Lucky You
by Amandapanda7
Summary: SO THIS IS THE OFFICIAL SEQUEL TO 'WHITE ROSES' WITH THE SAME CHARACTERS AS I USED IN THE FIRST ONE! THIS STORY WILL BE A PICK-UP TO THE LAST CHAPTER OF 'WHITE ROSES' AND IS MOSTLY ABOUT CARMEN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GROUP, A NEW FOUND FAMILY MEMBER, AND CARL. HOPE YOU LIKE IT! AND PEASE REVIEW! I LOVE TO HEAR FROM ALL OF YOU! ENJOY!
1. Just Breath

PROLOGUE:

My eyes fluttered open. My vision was blurry but I could make out a woman kneeling beside me.

"Good morning, baby." The woman said. As my vision became clearer the face and voice became more and more familiar.

"H-huh?" I asked trying to sit up.

"No, no. Honey, don't get up. Your still a bit weak." The voice said smiling at me. That voice...

"Wait...m-mom?" I was shocked, "But I thought you were dead!"

"Well...your father died. I made it out of the super-market, you didn't see me as one of those corpses did you?" She asked.

"N-no. I didn't."

"Exactly. I am so, so sorry we left you alone." She said holding back tears.

"Its okay. Really, it is. It's not your fault...mom, stop crying. Please." I pleaded with her and sat up about an inch before a pain shot up from stomach to my head. I groaned and laid back down on the hard ground. We were still in the observatory telescope building.

"You should get some rest, I food if you want some later. I love you so much." She said.

"I love you too, mom." I said then thought about my aunt. Should I tell her? Or would she get mad? She got off the floor and walked over to the staircase and sat on the bottom step.

"Hey, mom?" I called to my mom.

"Are you okay?" She asked jumping up again.

"I'm fine. Mom, how long have you been here? And how did you find me?"

"First, three years. You never woke up but I didn't lose hope because, you never stopped breathing." She answered. _Wait what?! Three years!? _

How could this be true?! I looked down at my clothes. They were brand new. Has my mom had to change me every year so that I would fit in whatever I could? Did three very important years of my life go to waste in a coma? And what about the group? I had to find them, they had been my family for a long time and I couldn't desert them. my hair was longer as well, it reached just above my butt. It was dark as usual, and had turned from curly to wavy. My natural tan was still there, that hadn't changed. I looked down my legs...I couldn't believe how tall I had grown. I must've grown to maybe 5'5 or 5'6.

"Second, once I escaped, I figured you would be here. This was your favorite place when you were a kid and its safe. I found you, treated that stomach wound that's, by the way probably still sore." She said giving one of her bright grins.

"Mom...how old am I asked slowly.

"Well...17." She said.

"_no way!" _I screamed in surprise. I gasped at my voice...it wasn't the same as that short poofy haired kid's voice anymore it was more...like a young adults voice. My mom laughed.

"All part of growing up...at least your eyes didn't change. And anyways, I think you look beautiful." She said then smiled. I sighed.

"See, mom, I appreciate that. But the last time you told me I looked beautiful, it was the day I got my braces." I said. My teeth were a thousand times straighter now.

"Hey, you can really pull those off." She said and we laughed. I turned serious again.

"Mom, we gotta talk." I said. I forced myself to walk over to her in pain. She patted the seat next to her.

"What's up honey?" She asked sweetly. I looked at her sadly remembering the day I had lost my other family...and Carl.

"I was in a group before this...a really good group. Actually, two of them found our house and let them stay. One of them was hurt and the other wanted to find the rest of the group...so we did. And a lot of life or death situations happened between then and now. Mom, they protected me. I thought you and dad were both dead and that I would soon join you. But somehow I stayed alive. They became my family over time and they were really good to me. I had a friend named Carl in that group..." I continued with my story of all of the adventures I had with Carl and the group until I finally finished the part where we were invaded. She was quiet for a long time then looked up.

"So...this Carl. HE your boyfriend?" She asked.

"What!? No! Especially if its been 3 years now. We were just close. Real close friends. He understood me. And I had two other friends in that group, Maggie...and...and Elena." I said. My mom narrowed her eyes.

"Elena _who?" _She asked for the last name. I'm screwed.

"H-Hanchittle." I stuttered. She cussed under her breath.

"Mom, she missed you. She told me that if she could turn back the clock, she would. She loved you mom. I don't even know if any of them are alive anymore...but I want to find them. And I found out she's my aunt. She has our eyes. I have to look for them." I said looking up into my mom's eyes. I missed Elena so badly. My mom was just an older version of Elena, but besides age difference you could say they were twins.

"I don't know, Carmen." She said crossing her arms a bit.

"Please, mom. Please. If it weren't for her then I wouldn't be alive right now. And anyways, Im not going to let your probblems stop me from finding her, Carl and the rewst of them. If your not going to help me just because of a stupid fight you guys had a thousand years ago, then you can just forget about me." I said crossing my arms and walking away to let her think it through. She groaned.

"Alright, Carmen. You win. But only if you promise to stick with me." She said.

"Deal." I smiled and shook her hand. My stomach did a little happy flip, and I knew that it should be completely healed with that out of the way.

TWO HOURS LATER

"We'll _never_ find them." I complained and walked a little further into the woods.

"Don't be a pessimist. And we should really start heading back its getting dark." She said. As we walked back, I started to think about my _condition_ and if it would come back.

We got back to the building and locked the door to keep walkers from coming in.

"We're gonna have to start thinking about places Rick would go...he's smart I'm sure he thought of something creative and safe." I said.

"I have a thought..." She responded.

"Which is?"

"Would if we went to Disneyland in California? No line-waiting." She said. Okay, was she not thinking?

"Are you _crazy!? _We would die out there for sure. Could you imagine how many herds there would be? How many _kid_ walkers we would have to kill? I would have nightmares for weeks if I had to do that!" I said a bit too loudly.

"I just thought it would be fun." She said.

"I know, mom. But its suicide." I said.

"Yeah...I know. Just a thought."

"Alright, well we should sleep some. I'm tired." I said then curled up into a ball on the hard ground next to my mom. She rolled over to the other side and fell asleep immediately. I wondered if we found everyone, about how different they would look. I dozed off and drowned myself with good dreams. I found my mom.

SORRY FOR HOW SHORT THAT WAS! JUST SORT OF A STARTER! PLEASE REVIEW FOR ANY SUGGESTIONS! LEMME KNOW HOW YOU LIKE IT! THANK YOU!


	2. The Lucky Ones

I slowly woke up from a deep sleep and sat up. I yawned and rubbed my eyes.

"Morning." My mom said walking in through the front door of the observatory.

"Where you've been?" I asked, the curiosity getting the better of me.

"Searching for the group."

"Any trace?" I asked not getting my hopes up. She shook her head.

"Well, I guess I'd better start looking too." I said.

"Carmen wait." She said urgently putting her finger to her lips. A ton of growling could easily be heard from outside. We were surrounded, and this time it wasn't in my head. She motioned for me to grab my gun and go through the back door. I ran to get my gun and met her at the back door. I slowly and carefully opened the door, and turned on the silencer on my gun. I aimed and shot at the first walker I laid my eyes on. About twenty roamed in the back, and another twenty were in the front.

"Shoot n' run." She said grabbing my wrist and forcing me to run with her. I didn't think we'd have a chance...at all. We ran into the woods with all twenty of them limping after us. They were catching up pretty quickly.

"Mom, we should split up. You go right, me left?" I suggested. She nodded and shot as many as possible on the right while I did the same on the left. I bit my lip and made eye contact with my mom. They were gaining on us. They were starting to surround me. I glanced at my mom and shot a walker that was about to leap at her. She thanked me with her eyes and turned around again. I started to walk backwards knowing that if I turned my back to them I would most likely get eaten. I shot 5 more. Great, 6 more to go. My mom wasn't doing too hot herself, but either we both tried to have a chance at survival or neither of us did. I shot 4 more.

"Mom you okay?" I called at her not caring that there were twenty more still by the observatory that could easily go after us.

"I'm fine. I'm going to lead them over this way okay? So you wont see me for a few minutes probably." She said starting to walk further to the right, leading them away from me. I knew it was dangerous but I nodded anyway.

"Stay safe." I mumbled quietly. 2 more down. I would have felt proud if my mom was still there. I heard growling come from behind me. 2 walkers were about 2 inches away from me. I jumped surprised at how close they were. I stumbled back and tripped over a rock, and fell on my butt. I reached for my gun, but instead of being in my pocket, it was about 7 feet away from me. The walkers were about to bite into me when 2 gunshots rang out. I opened my eyes to see a young woman with brown shoulder length hair and hazel eyes. She smiled at me.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Y-yeah I'm fine. Maggie, why did you come back here?" I asked. Her smile disappeared.

"How'd you know my name?"

"M-Maggie? You don't remember me? You were like a sister to me..."

"Sorry...I uh, don't remember you." She said. How different could I possibly look?

"Its me...Carmen Hanchittle." I said looking at her hopefully.

"What do you-oh my god." She said with shock. She shook her head.

"N-no. Carmen died three years ago." She said with tears at the brim of her eyes. I shook my head.

"No, Maggie. I'm not dead. No matter how bad it was, I'm not dead. My mom...she found me. I swear." I said getting up. She took a step back and shook her head.

"Do I not look the same?" I asked her. She shook her head with her mouth gaping open a little.

"Its me, I promise." I said.

"Tell me something only she and I would know." She said. I thought for a moment.

"When we were making a living at the hotel, I walked into you and Glenn's room and found a box that read-" I started to say but she cut me off.

"Oh my god...Carmen." She said happily pulling me into a tight hug, " I didn't want to leave you..."

"Its okay. You had every right to. I'm glad you did leave. Is...is everyone alive?" I asked her pulling away. She nodded happily.

"Carl's with me...where is that boy." She asked looking around a bit, "Listen, I think it'd be best if we let him find out who you are himself. Ever since...the incident, he's been having a rough time. Nightmares, nausea, all of that." She said. I nodded. "You look so much older...don't take this in any offense, but you look beautiful...and pretty damn sexy with that gun of yours. Your mama let you carry that thing?" She asked winking. I laughed and hugged her again.

"Oh and one more thing, Carl didn't change too much so you'll recognize him. But he did grow. Seventeen just like you, and still got those freckles and Sherriff's hat look." She said smiling a little.

"So...he's he still like that fourteen year old kid I used to know?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Yup. Still into comics, cut his hair...yet its the same length it was back when he was fourteen. Same personality. Probably still in love with you..." She rambled on and on.

"I know that Lizzie has a crush on him. But he's always rejecting or ignoring her." She said. I smiled to myself.

"I see him now." Maggie said dragging me over there.

"Carl, this is a..._friend _I found out here. Maybe we could ask your dad if she can stay with us." She said looking at Carl. I looked at over at Carl. I mean...like...whoa. He looked the same. Nearly exactly the same other than height. I was actually relieved he looked the same. Still cute as usual. I smiled at him and he looked at me as if he remembered me a little.

"Hey." I said.

"Hi...do I know you?" He asked with puppy eyes full of hope. I shook my head.

"Don't think so, why?" I asked.

"never mind." He mumbled then looked down in disappointment.

"But I can be someone who you know." It shot right out of my mouth like a bullet. I slapped my hand over my mouth and he snapped his head back up in confusion. We stared at each other awkwardly and to make matters worse I couldn't seem to take my hand off of my mouth because I was hiding a big smile.

"Well...nice meeting you." He said looking at Maggie questioningly.

"We're taking her back to camp." Maggie said. I put my hand down and blushed.

"Lets see what my dad says." He said.

"Wait, what about my mom?" I asked.

"Oh...so that was your mom. I told her the directions to our camp. She looked worried so I told her my dad would help her." He said.

"Oh okay...thank you." I said looking down. Maggie led us through the woods and we stopped after about 3 minutes at an _enormous_ mansion.

"T-this is where you guys live?" I asked staring at it in awe.

"Yeah." Carl said with a small smile I thought I would never see again. But it quickly disappeared. He walked ahead of us and opened the door.

"He's still under depression." Maggie whispered to me.

"No kidding. But after three years you would think he would have just forget about it."

"He really liked you, Carmen." She said. I bit my lip and walked inside the mansion after Carl. The place was _huge. _

"Come on. I'm sure my dad will be okay with you and your mom staying. Not like we don't have room." He said. I nodded and followed him to one of the hundreds of rooms.

"Dad?" He called out into the room .

"I'm here, Carl. Did you send this woman here?" Rick asked walking to the door and motioned to come in. Carl nodded and the three of us followed.

"I'm guessing your her daughter?" Rick asked.

"Yes." I said.

"Wow...I guess you are alive." Rick said smiling at me. I smiled back. Carl gave me and Maggie a weird look. Two figures came out from behind a wall. They both ran at me. It was Elena and my mom. They hugged me tightly. Carl looked between all of us.

"W-wait...dad, whats going on..." He asked.

"Don't you remember who this is? Its-"

"Carmen, how did you live?!" Elena practically yelled. Me and Maggie flinched.

"Wait...no. That can't be true...no, Carmen's dead! What are you talking about!?" Carl yelled.

"Carl, calm down please." Rick said.

"No...you guys are lying...its not funny. It just isn't." Carl said ignoring Rick. I could make out tears coming out of his eyes. He ran out the door.

"I'll be back" Rick said giving us a sympathetic look.

"What was that about?" I asked concerned.

"As I said...nightmares." Maggie said. I knew how he felt. After trying to convince myself that my mom was dead and I would have to accept that...but then she found me. I knew what he felt. disbelief. Elena and my mom looked at each other than at me. Then someone else walked into the living room. It was Glenn. I ran over to him and hugged him. He stood there confused as hell.

"Who is this?" He asked Maggie.

"Seventeen year old Carmen." Maggie said smirking. I smiled at her.

"No way..." He said.

"Its me. I promise. honestly I don't understand why you people don't recognize me." I said.

"Do you want a mirror?" He asked sarcastically. We both smiled, then I walked over to Maggie and told her I was going to go check on Carl. I walked down the hall and followed Rick's voice. I stopped at a closed-door and listened. For just a bit.

"That's not her. Why are you lying to me?" Carl asked his dad.

"We're not lying Carl. She's here." Rick said.

"But how?"

"She survived. Her mother found her and took care of her. I know that day was bad. It was real bad for all of us. That girl has been in two life or death situations, yet she made it out of both. She's strong, and for any of us to think that she wouldn't have survived that then, we've all been lying to ourselves." He said.

"Dad, I didn't believe she was dead! It took me 2 and a half years to finally lose hope! _I _was the only one who didn't think she was dead dad!" There was no response from Rick. I took the opportunity to knock on the door. The door opened.

"Hey, you want to talk to him?" Rick asked me running a hand through his hair tiredly. I nodded and smiled at him. He nodded and stepped out of the way and back towards the living room. I stepped inside of the room. Carl was sitting on his bed looking down.

"I'm sorry." was the first thing I said. He didn't say anything at first but when he looked up, tears were running down his face. It was the worse I'd seen him. I swallowed and closed the door behind me.

"Can...can we talk?" I asked him.

"Is it really you?..." He asked looking down again. I sat on his bed across from him.

"Yes, yes I promise its me. I am really sorry...I was stupid...I should have just hid like everyone else that day. And I regret it so much, Carl. I really do. Can you answer one question for me?" I asked. He didn't say anything just sort of stared at the ground blankly. I continued, "Are _you _the same person I fell in love with three years ago?" I asked. He looked up and I could practically see all that he had been through just by looking into his eyes.

"L-love?" He asked.

"Yeah, are you?" I asked, "Cause besides the ignorance, I think you are." I said looking him straight in the eye. He softened a bit and blushed. I smiled. I missed that blush. He really hadn't changed much. Unlike me I've been in a coma for three years.

"So...is your stomach better?" He asked me. Changing the subject.

"Yeah...it is thanks..." I said. He hesitated before asking me.

"do you remember the night before the...uh...accident?" He asked me. I felt myself blush and remembered the night...This time I looked down.

"Yes." I said simply.

"Yeah. Me too." He said.

"How was life here?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Hard at first. But it got better." He said, "I can't believe your alive..." He mumbled.

"I hardly believe it myself. With all the wrecks I've made." I said and laughed. He gave me a small sad smile.

"You have no idea how bad the nightmares were." He said quietly the smile disappearing yet again.

"No...I do. You think I haven't had bad dreams about you?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Never thought of it that way." He said. I nodded. The door opened and Elena walked through.

"Am I interrupting?" She asked playfully. We both shook our heads and blushed.

"Are you hungry Carmen?" She asked me.

"I haven't eaten in a real long time..." I said. She nodded and grabbed a bag on the floor and handed me a ham sandwich. I nearly ate in one bite, Elena and Carl were staring at me wide-eyed. I laughed at them.

"right, well. Time to go to sleep kiddos. Still have bedtimes,ya know." She said then winked and left the room.

"I guess I'd better go." I said and got up. I was about to walk out the door when I couldn't help but run back over to him and hugged him tightly.

"God, I missed you." I said into his shirt.


	3. The Fire that Froze

I slowly blinked myself awake as my skin enjoyed the light warmth from the sun rays flooding into the bedroom. I sighed and sat up. Everything was so..._normal._ For now at least. The room was the most comfortable place I'd ever slept in. The bed was a queen sized bed, the sheets were soft and clean and the entire room was just perfect. The bathroom was practically untouched and hot water ran throughout the entire house. I couldn't believe Rick had managed to keep the house and the group stable for three years without any accidents or deaths.

I looked around the room and spotted my worn out gray jansport backpack leaning against a chair. I swung my legs over the bed and walked over to it and unzipped it. I gasped and smiled to myself. A white rose bloomed beautifully in my backpack. But how? I was a really light sleeper, I'm sure I would have noticed someone come into my room and put it in my backpack.

Then again, I hadn't slept peacefully in days since I woke up from that stupid coma. I picked the rose up and decided to ask around for who could have put it in there, although I was pretty sure I already knew who. When had I fallen asleep anyways? I thought as I put the rose in my messy dark hair. I pulled it up into a high pony tail and walked out of the room and down the hall to the kitchen. Loud voices boomed inside of its shut doors. A few kids around 10 years old held up their fingers to their lips and told me to be quiet as they spied and listened at the door. I nodded and joined them.

I guess the council was having some sort of important meeting in there. Could they at least given us food before this? A loud debate echoed throughout the walls of the kitchen. I _just _wanted to eat.

"We _can't _let them go on a run, Rick! Their just kids! And you're talking about your own _son!"_ A voice I recognized to be Carol's said loudly.

"They aren't _kids anymore, Carol! _My Carmen can handle herself just fine, thank you very much! Survived a shooting _and _a three-year coma after nearly dying! And Carl had to deal with that as well! You saw him, he never gave up! He would come to Michonne _every single day, Carol, _and ask if she'd come back yet. _YOU, _stopped him from helping to search for her! Even after you saw how hurt he was! But no, they're just _"__kids"_ that are going through some puppy love. _I don't think so!" _Elena's voice yelled in a tone she would never use around me. They were talking about me and Carl?! The hell!?

"I never said-" Carol started but was cut off.

"I'll be with them. Carol, they're grown up. They have to learn sometime. Its not like any of the kids in this building haven't gone through enough hell to get a little taste of how to fight back!" Michonne stepped in. She sounded really ticked off. Now everyone was yelling at the same time, arguing. It was loud and aggravating. What was the big deal anyway? Carol groaned loudly in frustration.

"SHUT UP ALL OF YOU! I DON'T WANT WHAT HAPPENED TO SOPHIA, HAPPEN TO THESE KIDS TOO! 'CAUSE IF THAT'S WHAT YOURE ASKING FOR, YOU'RE HANDIN' THEM RIGHT ON OVER TO THE WALKERS!" Carol screamed so loudly above everyone's voices that everything went silent and I could practically feel the tension in there. I heard angry footsteps quickly starting to make their way to the doors. I gave the kids a look and gestured them down the hall to follow me.

We ran down the hall as fast as we could and pretty much dove through a door into the nearest room as the double doors in the kitchen flew open and out came Carol. My eyes widened as she stormed down the hall. I looked behind me to meet similar glances with the nine, ten-year old kids. Behind them, was Carl giving me a confused look. _Grea__t this was his room._ I sighed annoyed at myself and shut the door as Carol's footsteps became louder.

Carl stepped around the frightened kids to me. I gave him an unsure smile. He knit his eyebrows in confusion widened his eyes. _Like a lost puppy, _I thought. _Snap out of it Carmen! _I screamed in my head. I face palmed my forehead and Carl's confused look turned to worry. I sighed and bit lip then dragged him over to the far side of the room opposite of where the kids were huddled, waiting for Carol's footsteps to die away. Carl gave me a lopsided smile and raised one of his eyebrows. _God, no. Don't give me that look! Damn it, Carl, you're going to make blush! _I shook my head and looked away. Once the sound of Carol's footsteps were gone the kids ran out the door and disappeared to wherever.

"Now, can you explain?" He asked giving me the same lopsided smile that made me want to slap myself. I nodded.

"Well...the council's having a very..._heated _argument about a run they're thinking of taking us on. Carol didn't like it so much, and it turned into a full-out war." I said looking down avoiding eye contact. Why was I so embarrassed? It wasn't like I'd ever been mature around Carl. So why start now?

"Whats that have to do with a group of scared kids hiding in my room. That happened to be led by you?" He asked.

"Oh. Well turns out they were spying on the council. Well, more like eavesdropping."

"And what exactly were _you_ doing?" He asked with a smirk. I huffed.

"What do you think? _I _was just trying to make sure they didn't...um, well you know. Get into any trouble." I said crossing my arms. He nodded unconvinced.

"Yeah. That's what I thought." He said sarcastically. I laughed at him and shook my head.

"I...also wanted to thank you for the rose." I said tucking a loose strand of hair from my messy ponytail behind my ear and took out the rose from my hair.

"How'd you know it was me?" He asked. His face looked completely serious. I rolled my eyes.

"It wasn't you. It was one of the little 10-year old boys." I said sarcastically. We laughed.

"Yeah, well, tell that kid he's going to have to deal with me." He said putting on a tough guy expression. Didn't suit him too well.

"Oh, _come on! _You make us sound like we're married." I said mumbling the last part. I felt a blush creep on my cheeks, realizing what I had just said. His face fell from a smile to a serious look. His face turned a bright red color and his eyes looked kind of...big. I quickly looked away and looked down.

"I should...I should go." I said as the hair I had just tucked behind my ear fell out again. I started walking towards the door.

"Wait...where're you going?" He asked.

"I need to talk to Elena." I said looking up at him.

"Oh...okay, well. I'll see you later? Maybe we could...sneak out like we did when we were kids. There's this place the kids call 'The frozen land' or whatever." He said. I thought back to the day we had snuck out to the lobby at the hotel. I smiled a little and nodded.

"Yeah, sure. Eleven o' clock, Kay? Meet me in front of the kitchen. Why, exactly, do they call it that?" I asked excited yet nervous.

"Its seriously cold there. You'll see. And lets just say...its the biggest room in the house." He said with a mischievous grin on his face. That made me even more nervous.

"Huh. Alright, cool. See you later." I said and walked out to see a very unhappy Rick pass me without a word and walked into Carl's room. The rest of the council came out of the kitchen down the hall to the left and some to the right, all with solemn expressions. I saw Elena start going the opposite direction along with my mom and stopped them.

"Hey, Lena. Mom. Is everything alright?" I asked seeing their sort of angered faces. My mom nodded and smiled at me. She walked away like nothing had happened without saying anything. Weird.

"Elena? Are you going to talk to me?" I asked hopefully. She smiled at me.

"Yes, of course. You're mom is just under...some pressure at the moment, Sweetie. Don't worry, everything's fine. Have you talked to Carl yet?" She asked changing the subject entirely.

"It doesn't matter. Lena, you look like someone just slapped you...what happened in there?" I asked. She sighed.

"Adult stuff, Carmmy, that's all. Look, I need to talk to Rick. How about you...go see Maggie?" She suggested and left just like my mom had. I sighed and walked down the hall to Maggie and Glenn's room. I knocked softly on the door and it swung open almost immediately. I gave Glenn a small wave and smile.

"Hey, Carmen. How are you feeling?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Alright, I guess. Why's everyone depressed? No one's telling me anything." I said and let myself into the room. Glenn sighed behind me.

"Its complicated..." Glenn mumbled lost in his own thoughts.

"I can handle complication. I'm seventeen." I said crossing my arms and sitting down on the king sized bed. He sighed again and looked down.

"Carmen?" Maggie asked and came out of the bathroom. I smiled at her and hugged her.

"Hey, Mags. Will _you _please tell me what's going on here?" I asked. Her smiled immediately disappeared.

"Um...sweetie. Me and Glenn have stuff to do." She said looking over at Glenn. I walked to the door and raised my eyebrows.

"Fine, but Glenn?"

"Hm?"

"_Use the box!"_ I said pointing an accusing finger at him. His face flushed and Maggie laughed remembering the time I had walked into her hotel room while she was folding clothes and on the floor was _the box._ I laughed too.

"Not that, silly! Now get out!" She said playfully pushing me out the door and closing it. She opened the door quickly again and peeked her head out.

"And Carmen...lets just say that..._someone _thinks you're a danger to the group. That's not all, its about you and...and Carl, but that's all your allowed to know for now." She said giving me a worried look then closed the door quickly. I gaped at the door in surprise. I sacrificed myself to this group and someone here thinks I'm a danger to them? That's pleasant. Who could it possibly be? If it was anyone it had to be someone in the council. I turned around and found myself face-to-face with Lizzie.

"Oh...hey Lizzie. Sorry, I didn't see you there." I said. She put on the most fake grin I have ever seen, it almost looked painful.

"Oh no worries, Carmen! So glad your back, Honey!" She said cheerfully. Did she just call me _ honey!? _ I rolled my eyes and walked away from her not wanting to cause a scene. Everything was fine yesterday and earlier this morning. But now everything seemed to be frozen in time. _Frozen in time._ I wondered if Carl still had my compass anywhere...

SORRY, THIS WAS A PRETTY TERRIBLE CHAPTER BUT THE NEXT ON WILL BE BETTER!

SO THERE ARE THREE NEW POSSIBLE PROBLEMS THAT HAPPENED THIS CHAPTER:

1) Carmen has an unknown enemy within the group

2) Where is Carmen and Carl's relationship going? Is it going to cause problems?

3) What else could be the problem with the group? To Carmen, everyone has something to hide and something to say about her or Carl.

4) And lastly, what about this run does Carol seem to not trust Carmen and Carl with?

ALRIGHT WELL, THATS IT FOR THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK IS GOING ON. THANK YOU!


	4. For the better or for the worse

"Carmen, could you help me with this?" My mom called for me from her room. I slid from my bed and walked into her room. An enormous black duffel bag the size of a twin sized bed leaned up against my mom's bed as she tried to lift it.

"Uh...mom? What is this?" I asked cautiously walking over to her. She had her hands on her hips, her hair looked like a mess, and she had beads of sweat on her brow.

"None of your concern, but it weighs tons, do you mind?"

"Actually, it's all of my concern. And yes I do mind. Mom, whats in there?" I asked again. When she didn't respond I flipped out and started pacing the room.

"Oh god no. Mom, this better not be a body! The hell did you do?" I asked looking at her with wide eyes. She seemed shocked at my accusation.

"What!? No! Sweetie, what do you take me for? I would never do that! It's a surprise..."

"For?"

"The group. Daryl and I found it." She said still looking shocked. She's been growing kind of close to Daryl, I wasn't sure what to make of it exactly. But then again my mom was a very...convincing person she might have talked him into bringing her on a hunt one day. Something my dad promised to do for her before he died.

"Is it...is it a deer?" I asked hopefully.

"That it is."

"Dang, this is huge..."

"So are you going to help me?" She asked.

"Not until I look inside." I said quickly and unzipped the duffel before she could attempt to stop me. She hadn't lied, the deer was the size of a twin bed.

"Honestly, do you even trust me anymore?" She asked.

"I was only making sure." I said taking one end while she took the other. We both lugged it over towards the kitchen where I guessed most of the group was waiting. We nearly dropped it a few times along the way but in the end we made it to the kitchen. The double doors were already open and as soon as we got there the chattering of about 50 people stopped.

There were new people in the group that seemed nice enough, there were about 15 more kids of all ages. The rest were adults and the other people were just the rest of my group from the beginning.

We set the deer on one of the large tables. The kitchen was more like a cafeteria. It was huge, had a snack stand that was empty, and had tons of bench tables. Everyone's faces lit up at the sight of meat and Daryl did the great honor of gutting it, cooking it and cutting it into smaller pieces for all of us to eat. I wasn't so hungry today even with this great big prize. I decided that maybe I could go talk to the other kids around my age.

I walked over to a medium-sized bench table where Carl, Lizzie, now 13-year-old Mika, a brother and sister who were twins and 17 year olds as well, and a 13-year-old boy sitting next to Mika. They all looked over at me and Carl smiled while Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"Mind if I sit here?" I asked.

"Go ahead. We've got room." The girl said and smiled at me.

"Carmen, these are the twins, Kai and Chloë." Carl said pointing out the twins who were seventeen like us. "And this is Hunter. You already know Mika and Lizzie." Carl finished introducing me to everyone and Mika immediately hugged me earning a death stare from Lizzie.

"Nice to meet you." I said smiling at everyone.

"Yeah, you too. So, where did you come from? Were you in any group before this?" Chloe asked me. Chloe had wavy blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a little bit of freckles. She was wearing a red lifeguard sweatshirt, dark jeans, and white vans. She seemed like little miss sunshine to me, and she was super nice. As for her brother, he looked more like a surfer who had...too much sun. He had the same eyes and hair, no freckles, but he was tall and kind of muscular. He was friendly enough. To call them twins was an understatement.

"Actually, no. I've been with this group before...before we got separated." I said looking over at Carl. He gave me a smile that was barely visible.

"Oh. Well, hey looks like you found your way back." Kai said raising his eyebrows and giving me a small smile.

"Yeah, guess I did." I said slipping into the seat next to Carl.

"So are you guys dating or whatever?" Chloë asked. Me and Carl both pretty much yelled different things, in the end we meant the same thing.

"Carl: What?! NO! That would be weird!, Me: What makes you think that?! We don't seem like it do we!?" We looked at each other urgently then back at them.

"Dude, your blushing like crazy." Kai said with a smirk. The twins looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

"Your lying right? You two _totally_ act like you're married_!" _Chloë said bursting into another fit of giggles. _Why did it always come back to marriage!?_

"You've got to be kidding me." I mumbled under my breath. Lizzie practically jumped out of her seat, threw her food away, and slammed her tray on the top of the tray pile. We all stared at her dumbfounded as she stormed out of the cafeteria.

"What's her problem?" The thirteen year old boy named Hunter finally spoke up. Hunter already looked to be Mika's best friend. He was a lot different from the twins though, he had straight dark hair, green eyes, and...bags under his eyes? This kid looked like he'd been through a lot and his expression for the most part was gloomy and depressed written all over his face. But he was at least nice enough to give me a hint of a smile. He was skinny and pale, but none the less he was a cute kid.

"She's sort of a buzz kill, so don't mind my sister too much. Being in the council put stress on her." Mika said turning to me.

"The council!? How'd she get in there!? She's the same age as the four of us and they _let her in!?"_ I asked a little loudly.

"Yeah...none of us really know why she got in, but I over heard that, that kids mom begged the Rick to let her in. Says it would keep her mind off of her dad." Kai said, his expression darkened a bit.

"That's _so_ unfair. Carl deserves it more than she does, if anyone. He was the one who found the rest of the group while Lizzie spent her days sittin' around glaring at me!"

"Why does she hate you so much?" Chloë asked.

"Long story..." I said looking down trying to compose myself.

"She's _w__ay _jealous of Carmen. Ever since Carl found Lizzie she was having major crush issues. And once Carmen came in...she just kind of started hating her." Mika explained to the three of them.

"Pleasant." Hunter said sarcastically. This kid was pretty cool, he seemed a lot more mature than any of us. I didn't really see how Mika would be his best friend though, they were polar opposites from what I could tell.

"Oh yeah, this is our little brother by the way, Hunter." Kai said. I was shocked. Okay, Hunter was _completely _different from the twins. I didn't see how it was possible.

"Yeah, we've all had a rough time. But he had the worst by far. He watched our parents die and got us out of the house before we could see them turn into those human eaters." Chloë said looking upset. Wow, this kid's had a lot more responsibility than I thought. It was kind of weird since he was younger.

"Anyways, Hunter we've gotta finish our chores." Mika said grabbing his wrist and dragging him away from the table. He turned around and shrugged at us with a big smile on his face. At least he was happy with Mika to drag him around. I smiled back at him and winked, raising my eyebrows dramatically. His smile disappeared and his cheeks flushed red. I turned around to see three smirking teenagers.

At least I'd made three new friends along with Mika and Carl. Things were about to change for Lizzie. She wanted more than anything to get rid of me from this group. With these five with me, and most of the group, I wasn't going anywhere.

***TIME SKIP; 10:58 pm

I finished brushing my teeth and walked into the room where Elena was apparently sitting and waiting on my bed.

"Hey, Lena. Where's mom?" I asked.

"Nothing that concerns you, Miss Hanchittle. Or do I dare say, Miss _Grimes._"

"Whatcha doin' here?" I asked slowly; ignoring what she had said.

"Planning on going somewhere. Carmen." She said crossing her arms and raising one eyebrow.

"Uh...Elena...stop with the spy-talk. Its creeping me out. Seriously."

"Fine. but I want details." She said.

"D-details?"

"Yeah, uh-huh. I know you have a secret meeting, Miss Grimes." She said.

"Stop calling me that! And it doesn't _have _to be a secret."

"Then go ahead and tell your mom about this."

"What? No!"

"That's what I thought."

"Elena we're just going to talk!"

"Yeah, uh-huh. You better just talk."

"Lena, quit it!" I said. She bit her lip before breaking out into a fit of giggles. I huffed; This was aggravating.

"I was joking, Carmmy! Don't you trust me? I wont say a word, I promise."

"Lena, as I said, we are going to have a normal people conversation!"

"You two are anything _but _normal!" She said.

"_Elena." _I said menacingly.

"Fine, fine! I'll stop. Don't be a party pooper."

"Don't be a love killer." I said crossing my arms.

"I am not a love killer! If anything I fall love too easily. And anyways, I thought you two _didn't_ love each other." She said.

"W-we don't." I said stuttering.

"Of course you don't, sweetie." She said ruffling my hair.

"Lena, I swear." I said trying to fix my hair and glared at her.

"Alright. See you later, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." I said sticking my tongue out at her childishly. She rolled her eyes and left the room. I sighed thankful that the interrogation was finally over. I love her, but why did she have to know me so well, that she knew I would sneak out to go talk to Carl? I couldn't keep anything from her. My own mother doesn't know me as well as she does. I don't think _I _know myself as well as she does. I really hoped we won't get caught...cause if we do, people will have the wrong idea. And the last thing I need is a petition from the council voting whether or not to kick me out of the group or not. I knew Rick wouldn't do that to me...right?

OK SO I BROKE THE MEETING INTO TWO PEICES SOOO THATS GONNA HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE SECOND CHAPTER. PLEASE REVIEW! LEMME KNOW WHAT YOU THINKS GONNA HAPPEN AT THIS "SNEAK OUT" CARL AND CARMEN HAVE PLANNED. NOT SO DEVIOUS, BUT YOU KNOW. THANK YOU FOR READING!


	5. The spark of war

I walked down the hall as quietly as possible, which was hard since the floors were marble. All of the lights were turned off and for the most part everyone was asleep. I turned the corner towards the front of the cafeteria.

"Hey." Carl whispered when I had finally walked over to him.

"Hi. So where is this 'frozen land of whatever'?" I asked.

"Just around the corner and into the library."

"It's the library?" I asked.

"Yeah trust me, it's actually pretty cool. No when goes up there."

"Alright. Lets go." I said. We walked quietly past a few doors to the library. The library's doors were open already so it would be easy to get into without making too much noise.

"Cawmen?" A small voice made us pause at the doors. _Crap._ A little girl who was about 4 years old held a small doll in her hands and was wearing a pink nightgown. She was staring at us with a big smile on her face and her eyelids were just about closed. She looked like she had lost a lot of sleep. When Beth stepped out of the room, I quickly shoved Carl roughly making him lose balance and fall into the library. I didn't want to get caught in the first place, but getting caught _with_ Carl would mean big trouble with Rick.

"Uh-hey, Beth. Whose this?" I asked quickly, hoping she hadn't seen that.

"You don't remember? This is Judith. Judith Grimes." Beth said smiling. _That_ was Judith? She grew up quicker than I had.

"Oh, yeah. Hey, Judy. How'd you remember me?" I asked her.

"Daddy said you knew me when I was a baby. So, I kind of know you." She said happily. Beth looked about 20 years old now. She hadn't changed much though, just looked more tired than before.

"Carmen, what are you doing up so late?" Beth asked. _Dang it._

"I was looking for the kitchen. The library kind of looked like the kitchen in the dark. I just wanted some water, sorry."

"Its okay. The kitchens over there." She said pointing and waiting for me to walk over. She stared at me confused about why I didn't move. I stared right back at her like it was normal.

"Uh-Carmen. You okay? Is that one mental state thing getting to you?" She asked looking concerned.

"N-no. I'm fine. I just...nevermind." I mumbled and walked around the corner. I hid behind the wall until her door closed again. Once it did, I creeped back out and into the library quickly and shut the doors. Carl was sitting on the ground patiently.

"Hey, sorry about that. Beth came out."

"I heard. Come on. Theres a little area at the top of that ladder where we can talk." He said standing up and walking over to a ladder that was about 10 feet tall. He climbed to the top in a matter of seconds before I climbed up trying hard not to look down. The area we had climbed to was huge. It was freezing as well, and the perfect hideout for any kid.

"What are you two doing up here?" A voice asked. Not again...

"W-we just came to talk." I said, searching for the source of the voice. I couldn't place who it was.

"Okay. Well, if you don't mind me introducing myself, I'm Indie." The girl said as she stepped out of the shadows. She was about me and Chloe's height, and she looked to be full Native-American. She looked seventeen as well. She had a tan that was lighter than mine and dark brown eyes. On top of that she had straight dark brown hair that reached just below her shoulders and a few multi-colored feathers clipped into her hair. She seemed like the rough adventurous type. She was wearing a gray tank top, a camouflage green vest that exposed her shoulders, skinny jeans, black combat boots like mine, and she had a knife on her belt and a knife in her boot. That was pretty smart.

"Hi. I'm Carl and this is Carmen. I don't think I've ever seen you around." Carl said shaking her hand.

"I don't like people that much. You seem pretty cool though. Sneaking out?" She asked.

"Sort of." I said quietly.

"Cool. I don't have any family here. But eh, who cares, right?" She said. Me and Carl looked at each other than shrugged.

"Guys, what are you doing here?" Chloë asked coming out of no where along side Kai.

"We could ask you the same." Carl said.

"We just came to talk to Indie. Like we always do." Kai said.

"Yeah. You probably haven't met her. She's kind of like a brain washer, very convincing. And I'd watch your pockets too. First time I met her she stole my wallet." Chloë said.

"Uh-guys I'm right here." Indie said rolling her eyes.

"It's the truth. But, no worries. that's what makes you awesome." Kai said. I swore I saw Indie blush, even after how tough she sounded.

"So why are you guys here?" Chloë repeated the question. Me and Carl looked at each other than back at them.

"We haven't really got the chance to talk the way we used to when we were kids...So we thought it would be cool if we...um caught up a little." I said.

"Reasonable. So this is kind of cool. Would if all met up here every night?" Kai asked. We all nodded in agreement. Indie walked away from us, to a paper target on the wall that had about three knives sticking out of the bull's-eye. Maybe Indie _was_ kind of dangerous. She stood a good distance from the target and started to repeatedly throw knives that never missed the center. It was like she did it out of either pure enjoyment or she was just bored and had some really good skill with knife throwing. She seemed to have a lot of anger and revenge to release.

"Did you guys hear that the council is planning on separating the group boy/girl in terms of rooms? So I wouldn't be able to share a room with my brothers." Chloë said looking annoyed.

"What? That's weird...I wonder who would come up with that." I said.

"I could think of who." Indie said. I noticed that the knives she threw were starting to hit the wall harder than before. Make that a lot of anger and revenge to release. We waited for her to voice her opinion. She stopped throwing them abruptly and turned to us, pulling out one of the knives from the wall harshly. She walked over to us slowly. I really didn't feel like dying right now.

"Little miss Lizzie Peletier. That chic flick's got a lot up her sleeve. Bunch of craps going down with the council 'cause of her. She's taking her revenge on you, kid." Indie said pointing the knife at me. Not in an accusing way but a somewhat sympathetic way. We all stared at her not knowing what to say. She broke the silence by really quickly throwing the knife at the wall harder than any of the other throws she'd made. We all jumped back in surprise.

"Whats up with you guys?" She asked giving us a weird look as if we were crazy. She turned around and sort of just disappeared behind a door. I guessed that must have been her room.

"Hey someone in here?!" A voice called out from below us. We saw the faint glow of flashlights float around the library. We looked at each other hurriedly and Indie came back out of the room with wide eyes.

"That's Rick. Follow me." She hissed at us. We followed her into the room she had went into earlier and were amazed at how much colder it was in there than in the library.

"Come on there's this little trap door to the roof. You have to be quiet though, if we get caught there's no telling what they would do with us. Not when Lizzie's in the council." Indie was opening a small door with a hook sticking off the top on the ceiling. She helped me and Chloë get up first then let the boys go up. Then she followed us up and closed the door tightly. We were on the slanted roof of a mansion and it was freezing out here. Literally, it was about forty degrees or less and all of us were in our pajamas except for Indie.

"What now?" Chloë asked talking loudly.

"Shh! Now we wait." Indie said wrapping her arms around herself. After about 5 minutes we were about to go down, but with our luck, the trap door swung open. Someone crawled their way up to the roof and put their hands on their hips.

"Well I definitely expected to see you five up here ." The voice said, "Seems as if we have a group of rebellions."

Rebellions? I didn't like the sound of that. Something was wrong here. _Really wrong._

ALRIGHT EVERYONE! THAT WRAPS UP THE NEXT CHAPTER! PLEASE REVIEW! A LOTS HAPPENED LATELY! WE HAVE A NEW CHARACTER! REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1) Which council member do you think found the group on the roof?

2) Who and what are the Rebellions?

3) Why would Lizzie want to separate everyone's rooms?

4) Who do you think Indie is? Friend or foe?

PLEASE ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS IN A REVIEW! I LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU ALL THINK! THANK YOU! OH AND JUST TO CLEAR THINGS UP, CHLOE, CARMEN, HUNTER, KAI, INDIE, ELENA, AND CARMEN'S MOM ARE ALL MY OWN CHARACTERS. IM SURE YOU ALL KNOW THAT BY NOW, BUT I JUST WANTED TO LET EVERYONE KNOW. THANKS FOR READING!


	6. War or an act?

I should have known we were going to get caught. But that wasn't the worst part.

"My first question would be why would any of you sneak out in the first place. My second question is why would you let yourselves..._get caught_." The girl said pacing the roof carefully.

"It only takes one throw, Lizzie. Only one." Indie said putting her hand on the knife on her belt.

"I'd watch it, feathers. Throw one of those and you'll get yourself kicked out of the group. No one to turn to and no family to run to. What will happen then? Huh?" Lizzie said. Indie sub-consciously stroked the feathers clipped into her hair. Lizzie knew better than to mess with Indie.

"_It's your fault I have no family to go to. YOU _thought that they would be a danger to the group, you convinced -no- brainwashed the council into thinking my family would kill us all. I was just lucky that Rick was the only one who didn't believe you." Indie said accusingly. Lizzie just shrugged it off.

"Do you know why the majority signed those petitions?" Lizzie asked pacing again. I gulped.

"_What _petitions Lizzie." I demanded.

"Oh, you weren't here, were you. Eh, not a lot of terrible things. Carol and I just kicked out a bunch of people from the group. No biggie. But things are about to change. And I'm only about to tell you guys." She said suddenly interested in her nails.

"Why us?" Chloë asked.

"Because you might be dead before you can tell anyone. Anyways, things are about to change. Carol's gonna be the leader. Most of the people we saved recently have signed the petitions. We are going to divide the house into boy and girl rooms. everyone's curfew is at 8:30. Blah, blah, blah. We kick some more people out. Find more people to bring in. Rick is out of the picture, and we will do anything to make _all_ of this happen. Even if it means destroying most of our group." She said carelessly.

"Lizzie, Why are you doing this?" I asked shocked at their apparently enormous plan to take over.

"Because of you!" She yelled loudly. I jumped back a little. "As I was saying, We understand that a group of people would end up turning against us and will stop at nothing to stop us from taking revenge on not only Carmen, but on Rick too. It was unfair that Rick kicked Carol out of the group, like she hadn't been there the whole time. Of course, Sasha, Tyreese, Daryl, Michonne, Elena, Luciana, Rick, Beth, Glenn, and Maggie are all apparently by your side and then some."

"That's a lot of people if you ask me." Kai said through gritted teeth.

"See, what you don't understand is that we have a_ whole army. _And they aren't particularly nice._" _Lizzie said_._

_"Oh yeah_? So where are they?" Carl asked glaring at her.

"You don't want to know. This is lesson one, Children. Get ready for war. Oh and Carmen. Good luck. Your gonna need it." She said then turned her back on us.

"Wait! _War!?_ This is going too far! What happened to you?" I called after her. She stopped.

"I changed. Just like you did." She said not turning around.

"You still haven't told us what the rebellions are." I said before she could walk away again.

"Nothing you need to know." She said.

"Your working for Carol aren't you?" Chloë asked. Lizzie spun around furiously and slapped Chloë. _Hard. _Chloë fell into my arms and I attempted to help her up again. She had a bright red mark on her cheek now.

"I am not working for Carol! Carol, is working for me! Now, Carl, you remember Karen and David? _I _burned them. _I_ wanted to stop the disease. _I_ wanted to do something that my dad would be proud of. But once I realized that my dad was gone, I knew that there wasn't an ounce of good in what I did. So why should I be a good girl when I already did something bad? Carol covered for me. She loves me like a daughter. And its a shame you all are on her bad side." She said then turned around again to leave.

Carol used to be my friend...but I guess Rick sending her out of the group affected her one way or another.

Indie took out her knife out; anger clear on her face. Kai put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from doing something she would regret.

"Oh, and I suggest you go back inside. Your gonna catch a cold." She said before leaving. _Idiot._

"I've created a monster..." I mumbled to myself.

"Carmen, it's not your fault. She took her dad's death real hard, and now...the sweet innocent girl in her is gone. That's not something anyone can change but her." Carl said.

"I-I know. But it's partly my fault. Ch-Chloe I am so sorry." I said, "I didn't think she would ever-Chloe?" I asked, "N-no. You can't be a walker...you can't! How did you-guys?" I asked. They were all reaching out to me; all trying to bite me.

"What the heck?" I asked myself. Crap, it was happening. _On the roof. Stupid pills..._

"No...no...no...stop!" I screamed, More growling came from behind me and everywhere else. I could see a flood of walkers...and my dad. This can't be happening...not on the roof. I couldn't take it. The growling was driving me crazy. This time was worse than any other. My stupid mental state was taking over. _On the roof._ Next thing I know, I have my eyes squeezed shut, my ears were covered and I was screaming.

Really loud. Then I did something I'd never done in any of my little mentalities. I walked backwards; away from the walkers. But I guess I forgot I was on a freakin'roof because next thing I know, I slipped and banged my head on the tiles of the roof. I opened my eyes slowly as my head throbbed with pain. My vision was blurry, but the mental state hadn't gone away. Six...no nine walkers were heading my way. I shut my eyes again and let myself drift off.

*** Time skip: 2:15 am

I slowly woke up without opening my eyes. I could hear voices; human voices.

_"You mean this has happened to her before?" A voice I believed to be Chloë's whispered._

_"Yeah...But she's never fallen then hit her head in the middle of it before." Another voice, Carl's, said. _

_"That's terrible. Michonne's back with the medicine for it though." Indie said. I felt a hand cup my cheek then let go. _

_"Hey, man. I'm sure she's going to be fine." I think that was Kai._

_"I know. But its been two hours since she passed out..." Carl said. _

_"Carl, why were you five sneaking out anyways?" Rick said. I wondered if Elena was here. _

_"We just wanted to talk." Carl said sounding distracted. _

_"Don't do that please. You scared me half to death, and if we lost any of you than I don't know what I would do. Or how I would explain that to your parents." Rick said. _

_"Once again, don't have any, Rick. I have nothing to fear." Indie said with an attitude. It was just part of her personality. _

_"Please, Rick. We can't get in trouble with our parents! We'd never be let out of our rooms again." Chloë pleaded with Rick._

_"Alright, I guess I can talk to them and see what they say. But next time, you seven are in big trouble." Rick said. Seven? Who else was in here._

_"I promise." It was Mika, and I guessed the seventh person was Hunter. _

_"Rick...what are the rebellions?" Chloë asked._

_"You...they...lets just say, anyone who dislikes Carol or Lizzie is a rebellion in their eyes. A rebellion is a protest or fight against something believed to be wrong. Seven people who are rebellious are just more hated by those two than others." Another voice...that was Elena._

_"Pleasant." I knew for a fact that was Hunter. The kid was full of sarcasm. _

_"Who are the seven people?" Mika asked._

_"Well, Mika, I'm sorry to say you are one of them. And so is Hunter, Indie, Kai, Chloë, and most of all, Carmen and Carl." Rick said sounding really depressed._

_"Dad, what do we do if she doesn't wake up?" Carl asked. okay, he must've been really distracted to just ignore the fact that he was one of Lizzie' s most targeted people. How could a person become more of a threat than a walker? She said that they had a whole army that we couldn't see...think, Carmen, think. Was this really war? Or just an act to get us out of the mansion? Or worse, was she planning on overrunning us with...oh god._

_Suddenly it clicked in my brain._

_This wasn't going to be good._

I shot up sitting straight up. Everyone in the living room, were staring at me.

"Where's the garage." I demanded Rick to tell me.

"Carmen, you're not really in good shape right now to-" Rick started to warn me.

"_Where is the garage?"_ I asked again.

"D-down the hall to the left. Second door down. It's a metal door you can't miss it." Rick said. I pulled the blankets away from me and got off of the couch. I started to walk towards the door when Rick called after me.

"Carmen! Take someone with you, just in case!" He yelled after me. I waited for someone to walk over to me. I was happy it was Carl who immediately stuck by my side. Partner in crime for sure. We quickly walked in the directions Rick had told us silently until we reached the metal door.

"Wait, before you open that door. Can you explain to me why you're doing this?" He asked.

"Lizzie. I know what her army is." I said.

"W-what is it?" He asked nervously.

"Walkers." I said and opened the metal door to the garage.

SORRY ITS SO SHORT! JUST WANTED A CLIFF HANGER! ANYWAYS, HOW'D YOU LIKE IT? THANK YOU FOR READING! PLEASE REVIEW! REVIEW QUESTIONS;

1) Why do you think everyone says that the seven of them are the "Rebellions"?

2) What do you think of Lizzie's choice of soldiers?

3) Why in the world would Lizzie start a war? Or is this really a war?

4) What do you think will happen with Carmen and Carl's relationship after finding out they are the main targets?

5) If you have any questions for me; such as, why would you make Lizzie so evil? Or anything like that, just go ahead and review or PM me. THANK YOU!


	7. Don't leave me

The metal door creaked loudly as I opened it and a little breeze blew my hair lightly. It was pitch black in the garage. I started walking in.

"Did you hear that?" Carl asked putting his hand on my arm to stop me.

"Yeah. Trust me, Carl. I know already."

"Can you just tell me? Going in there doesn't seem too safe." He said sounding a little aggravated.

"Your going to have to trust me." I said walking inside.

"Carmen..."

"Carl, you hear that? That right there, are walkers. The dang living dead that's snapping at us right now, is Lizzie and Carol's "army". When no one expects its, they're gonna set these things out in the middle of the night and pretty much destroy the group, the council, the everybody. The us. The 'rebellions' or what ever." I said shaking my head in disgust and walking back into the hallway shutting the garage door tightly.

"We're screwed." Carl said with an expression I couldn't read.

"No, we're not. Remember what everyone's been saying about us seven? They think _we'll_ be the ones to stop it. To stop Carol and Lizzie from trying to tear this group into pieces. Literally. These people are sick. Even more mental than me."

"Your not-" Carl started to say, but I cut him off with a _'don't argue, you know its true'_ glare. He put his hands up surrender.

"Right. So what do we do? The council expects us to stop this. I mean, come on, where were _we_ when they decided that?"

"We could...I have an idea!" Carl said excitedly.

"Well spill." I said impatiently. But before he could answer, two voices were getting closer and closer.

"Carol and Lizzie." I mouthed to Carl. We both ran down the opposite hall to avoid contact with them. It sounded as if they were arguing at what time to let the walkers out. Unfortunately that time was _now_. We waited in the hallway for some sort of noise once the two voices fell silent. A loud creaking noise opened and suddenly growling filled my ears. We didn't have anything on us, not even guns.

"Run." Carl hissed at me. I ran down the hall, but soon realized that Carl went down the other hall. What did he do that for? I wondered. I had to find someone. Anyone. Which I did, but it wasn't the most ideal person to be meeting with at the time. I stopped abruptly in my tracks as the growling grew closer. Carol stood in front of me with her arms crossed and a devious smile on her face. What happened to her?

"Hello, Carmen. How's that stomach wound of yours? All stitched up? Careful, might not wanna re-open that." She said mockingly. I glared at her and backed up toward the growling. _No gun, no knife, no nothing. What now?_

"I-its fine. Its better now." I said.

"Is it? I heard your mother had to stitch it up about ten times during your coma. That must mean, that it can rip right open again." She said. I looked at her disgusted.

"What do you want Carol?"

"Nothing...just revenge for what you people did to me..."

"On who Carol? Rick? Or me? 'Cause killing me, wont get you very far." I said crossing my arms, trying to think of a way around her before the walkers caught up.

"Oh, I think it will, actually. I saw how Rick's son was affected when you nearly died. It was absolutely terrible. I wonder what would happen if it was..._permanent_ for once." She said smiling sweetly. I gagged a little.

"Your sick." I said. She shrugged and grabbed my arm roughly. If she pulled any harder my arm would come out of its socket. She dragged me down the hall as I tried to break free.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled at her.

"Bringing you to your trial."

"Trial?!"

"Yes. You really think we would let this be our fault?" She said. Of course. It was all a trap, they knew me and Carl would find out and see for ourselves what they had planned, and once we did, they would catch us right in the moment and blame the walker run on all seven of us. The grip she had on my arm was painful, but was replaced with a new pain. Carol was wrapping a rope about 4 inches thick around my wrists so tightly that my blood circulation was coming to a stop.

"N-no. You can't do this!" I screamed trying hard to let go but by the time we reached two double doors, it was too late. She swung them open and shoved me to the ground in a room I had never seen before. It looked like an auditorium, because I was on my knees on a stage in front of maybe, 100 people at the most. The people I didn't recognize that had recently joined the group looked at me with shock and anger. The blaming had already started. But looks of sympathy and a different kind of anger was plastered on the people I knew for years.

There were too many people on Carol and Lizzie's side for me to count and I could tell by the looks of it, that I was big time screwed. Carl, Indie, Chloë, Kai, Hunter, and Mika were in the front of the group tightened in a choke hold by some of Carol and Lizzie's other minions. My friends looked the most angry and Indie was looking deadlier than ever. She was trying to bite the man that had his arm wrapped around her neck. Along with the choke holds they were in, they had thick rope tied too tightly around their wrists. I swallowed hard waiting for something to happen.

"Lets get this over with." Lizzie said walking up the steps to the stage, and stood beside me. I didn't move, just sat on my knees on the stage like a wimp scared that if she saw me breath she would pull the trigger.

"Who votes that Indie Montez, Kai Coleman, Carl Grimes, Chloe Coleman, M-mika Peletier, Hunter Coleman, and Carmen Hanchittle who tried to kill us all should have a death penalty now." She said putting her hands on her hips expectantly. Over 80 people rose their hands. Everyone on the council just glared at all of them. Rick stood up from his seat.

"Listen everyone, I am the leader here. We all are." Rick said indicating the other council members, "I think we should be the ones to choose whether these seven kids...and...and my son deserve a death penalty or not." Rick said. I looked over at Carl who was giving me that same unreadable look from earlier.

"That's not fair, Rick. What about the people? Don't they get a vote?" Lizzie taunted him.

"This isn't a democracy anymore, Lizzie." He said. She sighed then rolled her eyes.

"I guess we shouldn't kill them just yet." She mumbled so that they wouldn't hear. I had, had enough. I stood up and Lizzie shot me a death stare.

"Alright, people, I want to know what exactly we're being accused for. We should at least be able to know that." I said.

"You guys killed three of our people. You may be children, but I know I don't want my kids around you." A woman said glaring at me.

"We didn't kill anyone! Its these two you should be afraid of! I mean come on, you may not know it, but when you step out of these doors, you'll be face to face walkers that they let into the house. To tear us apart." I said. I mentally slapped myself. I just trapped us again.

"How do you know this?" A man said crossing his arms. Crap.

"They just dragged me here, in a hall full of walkers, what do you think I am? Stupid? Cause if you don't believe me, and you're not running to your kids' safety who are most likely in danger now, then they're the ones you should be worried about. Not about where we are, or how we may sneak out every now in that _to just talk like normal people._" I said glaring daggers at the man. He stared at me in disbelief and fear. I scoffed. He got up and ran out the doors. We heard yell for help, and everyone's faces went from confident to complete shock.

Half of the auditorium was screaming and running as the place filled with more than enough walkers to eat us all in one bite. In the middle of the chaos, I took the opportunity to kick Lizzie hard in the side and jump off the stage. I ran over to the others and turned my back to Carl.

"Untie me." I said quickly. He did his best to untie the ropes that were cutting into my wrists blood circulation. I untied the thick ropes off his wrists as well. Then I went left untying Chloë, Indie, and Hunter's ropes, while he untied Mika and Kai's. Soon we were all running to the back doors again and threw open a linen closet full of ammo and weapons. We all took a gun and a knife just in case. We ran back into the auditorium, some of the people who wanted us dead were dying, as the seven of us killed as many walkers as possible. Rick was busy getting the council weapons while we open fired. The auditorium was full of chaos and everyone was busy either running, screaming, shooting, stabbing, or all of the above. I was so busy I hadn't noticed a certain person leave my side.

"CARMEN!" A voice screamed loudly to my right. I turned just in time to see Lizzie trying to shut Carl up and she held a knife threateningly close to his face. His gun was about thirty yards away from where she was dragging him; too far. My head spun with fear and nerves as I ran closer to the door that Lizzie and a struggling Carl disappeared behind.

I ran through a dark hallway and into another room where a set of stairs going down led to a basement. I hated basements so much. I ran down the steps quickly hoping to reach him in time. When I got to the bottom step I stood there shocked that the basement was full of yet another batch of about forty walkers.

I searched around for a sign of Carl, even a sign of a dead Carl anywhere. Then I spotted an open door to a small dark room. I stabbed a few walkers trying to get past them all. Which was hard since all of them were trying to take a bite out of me.

I finally made it to the room to see Carl panting with his mouth open on the floor. An enormous gash bled across his forehead, losing too much blood. He was pale and was sitting a bit sleepily on the ground with eyes half closed. This confused me more than ever. There was no sign of Lizzie, yet there Carl was on the ground with a deadly looking gash on his forehead and he was fainting right on the spot. I dropped my gun and sat across from him on my knees.

"Carl, you have to stay awake okay? If you fall asleep...you could have a concussion...please, please stay awake. For now, okay? We're gonna get you out of here." I said. He stared straight on through me with the same half asleep look on his face. _What did she do to him?_

"Carl, please talk to me...you have to tell me what you're feeling." I said easily ripping off a piece of my cheap plaid fabric long-sleeved shirt and pressed it up on his gash to stop the bleeding a bit. I heard him stop breathing for a few seconds and then start panting again. His eyes closed completely and his body slumped forward unconsciously and his head landed in my lap with a small thump.

"P-please, please. Don't fall as-asleep. Please. Carl. Carl." I said, tears welling up in my eyes. I shook him lightly, then I shook him harder, but it was no use.

"I hope you get eaten alive, Lizzie! Wherever you are..." I yelled, the tears falling out of my eyes. Carl wasn't responding. I flipped him over so that his face was facing upwards on my lap so that he could breathe. I ran a hand through his hair and realized his breathing was becoming slower. I screamed and started cussing out Lizzie hoping she heard me, but knowing my chances were slim.

I couldn't carry him, and dragging him would just make things worse. I shook my head in disbelief as I cried out gasping for air. I leaned my head down on top of his and between sobs said,

"P-please. D-don't leave me. Don't leave me. Please. Don't. You can't" I kept my forehead on top of his head and sobbed.

"Carmen?" A girl's voice asked behind me. The voice was so quiet and unrecognizable that whoever it was, knew something was wrong. I didn't answer. The person sat beside me on her knees as well and I could see with my peripheral vision that she was observing me and Carl. I didn't look at her, or what she was doing. I just kept my eyes closed and my forehead on his head. I held his head in my hands as I let tears spill out of my eyes again.

"Carmen, its okay. Hey, he's still breathing. He's going to be okay. That gash is pretty messed up, but Maggie can fix it or something. I'm sure of it. We might need one of the those breathing supporter things too. He's breathing a little slowly. Carmen, hey? Stop crying please. Its gonna be alright. The walker break out is over and we're all here." The voice said putting a gentle hand on my back.

Then I realized it was Chloë talking to me and I knew by everybody, she meant the others. I finally realized that we were a group. and no matter what Lizzie or Carol did would tear us apart...that is if Carl lives through this. He was losing too much blood for comfort. Why was it always either me or him?

I felt hand on my shoulder.

"Dude, you kicked butt out there. It was pretty awesome, actually." Kai said letting go of my shoulder. I sighed and finally lifted my head. I didn't dare move Carl from my lap though, I was afraid it would do something wrong to him.

"Kid, you did do pretty awesome. We all did. Even the little kids." Indie said giving me a half-smile.

"We are not little kids!" Mika exclaimed angrily. I sniffled and rubbed my eye. I promised that I wouldn't let any of these guys see me cry.

"This is really embarrassing." I said with a hoarse voice.

"Why dude? you're boyfriends pretty much dying." Indie said shrugging. Mika elbowed Indie's side for saying that he was dying.

"Watch it twit." Indie said pointing her knife at her. Mika just rolled her eyes, knowing that Indie would never hurt her or any of us.

I knew Indie cared about Carl and about all of us like family. She just didn't like showing it. She especially had some feelings for Kai. It was too obvious to ignore. We heard a few gun shots go off in the basement and turned to see Rick, Michonne, and Elena standing in the doorway. I tried to wipe away all of the tears on my cheeks but I knew my eyes were too red to hide it. Rick walked over slowly. Don't go crazy, I begged him in my mind.

"W-what happened?" Rick asked shakily kneeling down beside his son and me. I felt myself stop breathing and I stared at Rick with out answering him. I started gasping for air again as I started to cry harder. Surprisingly, Rick just ordered Elena and Michonne to get the first aid kit and some other stuff, then he hugged me tightly. Everyone but Indie, me and Rick left.

Indie, occupied herself by throwing knives successful at the wall like she always did, while Rick finished killing the last of the walkers in the basement. I felt my feet and legs get numb from sitting on my knees too long. No one had even asked me to move his head from my lap. It was almost like they expected it which I found weird. Luckily, Carl's breathing hadn't stopped, but it was still shallow. I leaned my forehead gently on his head again and closed my eyes. I felt myself drift off into a deep, deep sleep as my world turned peacefully dark.


	8. What are we now?

"Carmen, wake up. We gotta go." Indie said shaking me lightly. I groaned and turned over on the hard concrete floor. I had slept for about two hours on the floor, waiting for him to wake up. We were still in the small dark office that we had come into a few hours ago where I found Carl.

"Seriously Carm, if you don't get up Maggie can't fix Carl's head. She said she didn't want you seeing how the operation goes and that she would explain what happened to him later." Indie sounded annoyed at my ignorance. I opened my eyes and pushed my sore body off the ground to my feet.

"How longs it gonna take?" I asked realizing that Carl was up on a cot next to where I had slept.

"Don't know. Probably a while. She said we can wait in the basement with everyone else." Indie shrugged and walked out the door to the basement with me.

"Hey sleeping beauty. You okay?" Chloë asked walking over to me and giving me a small hug.

"Oh, yeah. I'm...just great." I said, lying right to her face.

"Mhm. Sure. Carmen, your eyes are seriously red and you have bags under them and your hair looks like a bird's nest. You can't tell me your alright, we can tell your worried." Chloë said.

"Oh well. So sorry I didn't go to the beauty salon before witnessing my best friend nearly die in front of my eyes." I shot back. Then regretted it.

"Your best friend or your _boy _friend." Mika smirked at me and crossed her arms. I was not in the mood.

"Look who's talking." I said winking at Hunter who was standing pretty close to Mika. Both of their eyebrows raised and their cheeks burned a bright red.

"He's gonna be alright, Carm." Indie said putting an arm around my shoulders before walking over to Kai who was, for some reason looking depressed and quiet in a corner. Hunter and Mika allowed themselves into the room that Maggie was "operating" in. Chloë grabbed my elbow and dragged me across the basement, opposite of Indie and Kai. She gave me a mischievous grin.

"Tell me my brother doesn't like Indie." Chloë said giving me one of those super excited grins she used often. I won a bet with Indie last week that Chloë used to be a cheerleader.

"He does. But tell me your _other_ brother doesn't like Mika." I said giving her an even bigger grin.

"Trust me. He does. But tell me _you_ don't like Carl." She said officially winning this battle. I rolled my eyes.

"We're close." Was all I said.

"Yeah close. Real close." Chloë said trailing off a bit. She suddenly seemed distracted.

"You okay?" I asked her slowly.

"Yeah im fine...just a lot of couple stuff going on..."

"What do you mean? None of us are couples."

"I know, but I miss...I miss my boyfriend." She said quietly.

"You had a boyfriend?" I asked suddenly interested

"Yeah. He was really good to me. Unlike any other boy I'd ever met..." She said trailing off again.

"I'm sorry, Chlo." I said putting a hand on her shoulder. She shook her head as if waking up from a horrific dream...something must've happened to him.

"It's over now. Not a big deal." She shrugged. I bit my lip and looked down as she walked away to go join Indie and Kai. Not too long after, Rick burst through the closed-door with a grin that was far too big for his face.

"He's awake." He announced. We all speed walked into the small crowded room. I was immediately pushed toward the back to where I couldn't see anything but the backs of my friends' heads. Indie seemed to notice this and cleared a path for me to walk to the front.

But I wasn't paying attention. Nothing else mattered at this point...just me and my best friend. Carl rubbed his eyes and stood up. Before he even got the chance to glance at us, I crashed into him into an enormous embrace. He stumbled backwards with me still clinging to him by his neck. I didn't let go of him, I couldn't my arms wouldn't allow me to. After a short pause of recognition, he wrapped his arms so tightly around me that my feet were dangling in the air.

I couldn't help but feel as if I needed to cry, but I wouldn't allow myself to embarrass myself or him any more than I have. It was too late though, the tears just came streaming down and onto the marble floor.

My head was resting over his shoulder and he wouldn't let go of me either, no longer how long we'd been like this. He started walking as I continued to sob and gasp for breath. I really had thought he was dead...his pulse was gone when I was with him earlier.

This was when it became awkward...he was walking out of the door, yet I was still clinging to him with my feet dangling up in the air still. I could barely breathe with the grasp he had on me, as if scared to lose each other again.

I cried into his shoulder some more as he continued walking out of the room, into the basement, up the stairs and back to the now empty auditorium; carrying me all the way through. He let go of me gently and I softly landed on my feet on the stage. I let go of him as well. I shook my head, the tears didn't stop yet, which I hated. I didn't like looking like a baby, especially in front of my best friend, who took up the quality of being competitive. He smirked at me, with a glint in his eyes. I rolled my eyes, and playfully punched him in the arm.

"You're a jerk." I said sitting on the edge of the stage.

"You cried for me? I'm touched." He said sitting beside me.

"You're an idiot. You almost died, and you're gonna spend your time tormenting me." I said hiding my smile.

"Fine, fine. But since I did almost die, about that kiss?" He asked smirking even bigger than he had before. I guess almost dying either made him braver or just way more cocky.

"Think you can have it all, huh? I don't think so, freckles." I said. I meant it as a joke. But almost immediately he looked like I slapped him. His smirk dropped down into a small frown and his eyes lost its gleam. Why would he want to kiss me so badly? We were best friends, not soul mates or whatever. I wasn't about to kiss him unless there was a purpose. He looked down than back into my green eyes. I gave him the _'what?' _look. He shrugged it off.

"Seriously, Carl, not in a million years. Sure, maybe we kissed...one...two...three times...but that was when we were little. Fourteen. It was childs play, don't you think?" I asked. The sadness and disappointed was clear on his face. I sighed and hugged him before standing up. He still didn't say a thing.

"I bet I could beat you to the cafeteria." Carl said smirking once again, the sadness was gone and replaced with the cockiness that I actually adored.

"Nuh-uh. I'm so gonna beat you." I said. We counted down together, and just like kids we raced to the cafeteria. What happened once we got to the cafeteria...lets just say it was not a good scene.

SO WHAT'D YOU THINK? GOOD BAD? PLEASE REVIEW! SORRY IT TOOK FOREVER TO FOR ME TO UPDATE! THANK YOU FOR READING!


	9. Broken

Tables were thrown everywhere, the ground was splattered in what looked like this evenings lunch...and the metallic smell of blood sent a wave nausea through my body. I grabbed Carl's hand.

"Lets get out of here." I mumbled under my breath and led him out of the cafeteria. We sped walk as fast as we could down the hall to Rick's room, in hope we would find him. He was the leader, shouldn't he know what to do?

"What do you think happened in there?" Carl asked me.

"Lizzie and Carol happened in there. With their army." I said simply.

"Y-you mean the walkers?"

"Yes. I hope everyone's okay..." I said thinking mostly of my mother, Elena, and Maggie who I saw as an older sister figure.

"Yeah me too. I'm almost worried about leaving the others." He said, his face seemed to darken.

"You mean...you mean "us"? "Us" as in, _the seven of us?" _I asked raising my eyebrows at him. He nodded and stared at his feet. We came to a stop in front of Rick's bedroom, the doors were shut tightly. I tried for the doorknob just to find that it was locked. Me and Carl exchanged worried glances. His face lightened up and I could see the little lightbulb shine above his head. He reached into his boot and pulled out a key. I rolled my eyes. Just typical. He unlocked it quickly than swung the doors open.

We walked in the room slowly with our guns ready and our backs faced to each other. The room was dark and all the windows were shut, but the doors had been locked, which meant someone had to be in here. After looking around the room, and checking in the bathroom and under the bed we gave up and walked back out to the hallway silently. A quiet voice rang out to our left. The voice ushered out a 'pst'. We turned quickly and faced a certain thirteen year old boy with black hair, permanent bags under his eyes and a girl with baby cheeks and blond hair.

"Where is everyone?" Mika hissed, and walked over to us with their guns lowered.

"No clue, where's the others?" I asked.

"Theyre still down in the basement, I think...We thought we heard growling and screaming but when we came out nobody was here...not even walkers." She said, fear written in her eyes. She was right, it was too quiet. Carl sighed and started to pace a little.

"We could go get the others, split up-"

"I don't like the idea of splitting up again...that always ends in disaster, Carl!" Mika said biting her lip anxiously. I nodded in agreement.

"She's right, if we split, Lizzie and Carol would be able to get one or two of us alone again. And that didn't work out too well last time." Hunter said looking straight at Carl's bandaged head. Carl sighed again, then nodded.

"I just...don't know what to do anymore." He said, looking incredibly stressed out for the first time. I felt pity and guilt rise up in me from the last event, when he had his head bashed. I put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll figure this out. We could be the only ones here...we've gotta find someone, and somehow get Lizzie and Carol out of the picture. We _had_ enough problems." I said mumbling the last part.

"Um-did you guys check the front door? You know, to see if anyone left?" Hunter asked. Me and Carl looked at each other, blushed, then looked back. I shook my head then immediately grabbed Carl's wrist and dragged him with me to the front door of the mansion.

"C-Carmen, you're kinda hurting me. Whats with the grip?" He asked pulling away and rubbing his wrist.

"Sorry. Just tired of this junk." I responded not bothering to turn around. Once we made it to the front door, we weren't surprised to find it wide open and unattended. We made our way down the front porch steps and out into the garden. The weather took me by surprise, the sky was a deep gray color and cold air blew lightly. I shivered and hugged my bare arms. I was only wearing a tank top, jean shorts, my combat boots, and my gun was strapped to its holster on my belt. The only thing keeping me warm was my hair.

"Where could they have gone?" Mika asked jogging with Hunter to keep up with us. I was sick of this, always running, hiding, hoping, _searching._ It made me sick. I started to panic when another wave of nausea hit me, what was going on today? Despite that more than half of the group wanted us dead, I couldn't help but feel as if I was actually catching some sort of cold.

That would suck though, we'd lost the group so far, our hopes in actually staying with the group were slim, I was sure Carl still needed some rest after getting his head injury fixed, and our group, let alone the seven of us were falling apart. We needed to do something about Lizzie and carol. The sweethearts I used to know where suddenly heartless. I shook the thought of all of our problems and continued walking through the garden to the driveway. I sneezed and then coughed a little. Carl gave me a curious look, but I just shrugged him off.

"AHHHHHH! GET OFF OF ME YOU RETARTED LITTLE-!" A voice screamed, not too far from here, but into the woods.

"That was Indie. That was definitely Indie." Hunter said starting to run in the that direction. Mika glanced at us then took off after him. I ran after her, hearing Carl's footsteps not too far from me. After 2 minutes of running into the woods, we lost sight of Hunter.

The trees were too big to see past. A deep cry of agony sounded a few footsteps away from a bush, that had to be Hunter...What the hell!? I stopped running, what was going on with my body today? I wondered. I felt my body shudder in the cold then I started coughing again, this time harshly. Carl stopped too, but Mika was speeding up at the sound of Hunter's screams.

"Go." I let out in a rasp voice. He clenched his fists then ran after Mika. I waited a little longer until he disappeared as well, of course that was probably the most stupidest decision I've ever made. I ran as fast as I could against the cold air that was now piercing my lungs. Finally, I came to a clearing. Hunter sat curled in a little ball, there was a deep cut on his arm and Mika was sitting on her knees, hugging him.

I looked around some more before spotting Carl. His face was twisting with pain, but I couldn't see any marks on him. I noticed that I was well hidden behind some tall bushes and couldn't be seen at this point. It wasn't long before Lizzie came waltzing out of nowhere with a grinning Carol to her left. I stayed behind the bushes hoping that this would give me an advantage to save my friends. Lizzie and Carol were rambling on and on about how they would take over. They were trapped. I turned a little and saw Indie and Kai squatting beneath the bushes beside me.

"Guys." I whispered as quietly as possible. Indie turned her head and her eyes actually gleamed with happiness. She slapped Kai's arm to get his attention. He winced then gave me a small smile.

"Where's Chloë" I mouthed to them. Kai's smile dropped and the gleam in Indie's eyes disappeared. She pointed up to a tree. I followed her gaze and saw that Chloë was hunched up in the fifth branch of a pine tree, staring down at her little brother, Mika, and Carl in terror. She was too low in the tree from what I could tell.

I turned back to Kai and Indie. I watched Kai smirk, then whisper something to Indie, and her response made me want to burst out laughing. Her eyes grew big with fury and she slapped him in the face right on the spot, but one thing she could never do was wipe the smirk off of that blonde surfers face. The other blonde, as in Chloë, immediately snapped her head up and looked our way. She'd heard it from all the way over there? We were screwed. I held my breath as Lizzie made her way menacingly to where we were, it would either be me or them.

Lizzie drew up her knife, then reached into the bushes and dragged Indie out. Indie screamed then growled at her.

"LET GO OF ME! LET GO! LET-" Indie screamed, I had never heard her so scared in my life, in fact I'd never heard her scared at all. Lizzie clamped a hand over Indie's mouth and whispered to her, Indie's eyes grew wide and she shook her head vigorously as if to say no. I swallowed hard and made eye contact with Kai. Indie did the 'smart' thing and licked Lizzie's hand. Lizzie jumped back then glared at Indie. Indie looked over at the bushes, where me and Kai were crouching.

He had a determined look on his face and was about to stand up, when I put a firm hand on his shoulder and shook my head. He crouched back down, angry at himself for letting his stupid joke come out. Couldn't he have waited later for Indie to slap him? Now she could die...we all could actually.

"How many of you are there!?" Carol yelled out to open air, and all she got in return was the soft breeze.

"If you don't show up, I'll kill her." Lizzie said calmly...she really was a monster. She was holding a knife to Indie's throat. I wondered where Indie's knives were, but then I realized Lizzie had smoothly found a way to make her not reach for her knives, but for Lizzie's arm. Lizzie had a firm choke hold on the girl, and Indie was simply trying to get her off. Her face was turning a pasty white color.

This was the closest any of us had gotten to confrontation. Kai couldn't take it anymore though. He lurched out of the bushes and knocked Lizzie to the ground, forcing her to let go of Indie, who fell helplessly to the ground, choking. Kai started to repeatedly punch Lizzie in the face. He was letting all of his anger and love for Indie out on her. The purpose was sweet, the sight was ugly. Carol had finally managed to pull him off her. He thrashed around helplessly. When Lizzie ordered something...odd.

"Let them go. Not like they're gonna live long anyway." Lizzie said angrily getting herself to her feet, her nose was bleeding, and her eye was swelling by the minute. She grabbed her knife and calmly tucked it into her boot and walked off, leaving a confused Carol to follow her deeper into the woods. Chloë jumped down from the tree and ran over to Hunter who was still curled in a tight, pale ball, with Mika.

Carl, was bending over in pain, I was coughing harshly from the cold and weakly crying myself to the ground. Kai was hugging a crying and injured Indie. This was all too much for kids, just kids. There was only one lesson that I had learned since the end of the world, it wasn't the dead rising we had to worry about, it was the people.

SORRY THAT TOOK SO LONG! IM NOT SURE IVE DONE THIS BEFORE, BUT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE COOL TO SEE WHAT YOU GUYS THINK MY OC'S LOOK LIKE !? PLEASE RESPOND IN A REVIEW OR PM ME! MY OC'S: ELENA, CARMEN, CHLOE, KAI, INDIE, LUCIANNA (CARMEN'S MOM), AND HUNTER! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! PLEASE R AND R !


	10. Back together, with a price

We'd never been so broken before...it was almost scary. I got up from the ground and walked over to Chloë, Mika and Hunter. Hunter was even paler than before, he was still hugging his knees to his chest and staring off into space. He would sob, but no tears came out.

"I-is he okay?" I asked Mika. She shook her head.

"I don't know, Carmmy. H-he's not responding." She said at the verge of tears. I looked at him, the only cut he had was on his arm, it was a little deep, but needless to say, it was definitely not what was bothering him. Lizzie must've said something that scarred him. I recognized the same expression on Indie had the same expression. It was hard to scare Indie, but now she wasn't looking too happy.

"P-please. Hunter, you have to talk to me...please. We don't know what to do unless you tell us what's wrong..." Mika was trying hard to swallow her tears. She sighed and gave him a long hug. Me and Chloë decided to leave them alone for a little while. Indie was still on the ground, but was held tightly by Kai, who was trying to get her to talk. But just like Hunter, she didn't say a word. It was terrible to see your strongest friend be...not so strong anymore.

"I can't get her talk." Kai said letting go of Indie and he stood up.

"Same with Hunter." Chloë mumbled.

"Where's Carl?" Kai asked. _That kid sure had a way of disappearing. _I left the three of him to look for him. I heard Mika's sobs clearly, and Chloë and Kai were whispering to each other.

"Carmen." A voice that was all too familiar said behind me. I spun around and faced Carl. He was clutching his stomach tightly, and his face had grown a bit...pale. I jogged over to him.

"Are you okay? What'd she _do_ to you? If she comes back, I will-"

"Hey, Carm, calm down. I'm fine." He said giving me that signature lopsided grin of his. _Gosh darn it. _

"What's wrong with your stomach? And stop grinning like that! I can't focus when you do that..." I said, mock-glaring at him. His grin just got wider, but then he winced in pain.

"She didn't stab me or anything, just... punched really... hard." He said groaning a little and clutching his stomach again. Half of me wanted to laugh, because he was punched hard enough to be in pain, _by a girl,_ but the other half of me knew it was wrong.

"Oh...um. So she punches hard, huh?" I asked, struggling to keep a smirk off my face.

"Yeah...um. This is way more embarrassing than I thought." He said meeting my eyes with a pained expression.

"Heh, for you." I said laughing, he narrowed his eyes at me.

"Whatever. Lucky it wasn't a knife that hurt me. Sort of like..."

"How I was?" I finished for him. I remembered when the three bulky men had barged through the observatory room and started open firing then-

"Yeah...lets not talk about that." He said cutting off my thoughts.

"So...do you need ice? Or..."

"No, I think I'm fine. We need to worry about Hunter and Indie. And the group. We should probably start looking for them soon." He said, starting to walk in the direction I came from. We walked silently together back to the clearing. I had a strong urge to tell him something, noticing that neither of us knew when we'd last see eachother. But I held my tongue for the time being.

"Where were you guys?" Chloë asked, eyebrows raised. I laughed at her.

"I was just going to see if he was okay, calm your butt." I said taking notice that everyone was finally off the floor and standing up. Making progress.

"Indie, can you please tell us what happened? Did they mention anything about our parents? The group, maybe?" Carl asked. She nodded and she stepped a little closer to Kai.

"Y-yes. She said that...that they were already dead...I shouldn't care...cause its your parents, mine are dead, but Rick...we need him." She said. I was shocked, actually I was angry that she would act like she didn't care. We all knew she cared, she could stop acting tough now. I was seething.

"_How the hell can you-"_ I started, but Carl knew what was coming next and interrupted me.

"They can't be dead, Lizzie's lying. Where did she say they were?" He asked putting me behind him, to stop anything from happening. He wasn't going to stop me, though. I lunged at Indie, but of course, Carl had seen this coming as well. It sucks to have a best friend.

"West. They were going west. But if they're dead guys...We all know that Carmen could have a problem with that." She said looking at me with pity. I didn't want pity.

"What do you mean _problem?"_ I asked her.

"Your...illness thingy, Carm, whats wrong with you right now? Remember what happened on the roof? You totally lost it, thinking that everyone was a walker." She explained to me. _Oh, that. _I cleared my throat.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever. But who said they'd be walkers anyways?" I asked.

"Never know. I still think we should go though." Hunter said matter-of-factly, and finally speaking. Carl nodded in agreement.

"Lets go." He announced. I tried keep from glaring at Indie, she may have been one of my closest friends, even like a sister to me, but she didn't have the right to just give up on them. Especially Rick.

I walked side-by-side with Carl, he kept glancing at me.

"What?" I asked realizing he had a smirk plastered on his face and a mischievous gleam in his eye. Not _that _look again. That meant he was up to something.

"Oh nothing...just..."

"What? Just _what?" _I was in a bad enough mood.

"Your..."

"Gosh darn it, Carl! Spit it out!" I said smacking his arm. His grin widened.

"You've got something on your face." He said. I glared at him before searching my face with my hands. I looked back at him confused. He laughed, then shook his head.

"Let me get it for you." He said wiping some sort of...purple liquid off my cheek. _What the heck?_ I glared at him again, he was still smirking like the idiot of a best friend he was. The best friend that I loved. _No! Snap out of it Carmen! you're not falling in love with your best friend who loves to torment you, in the middle of an apocalypse. _

"Why are you still staring at me?" I asked again

"I don't know you're-"

"Oh great, found something else to torment me?" I cut him off. He shook his head, and suddenly he grew very serious, a look that absolutely _terrified me._

"No you're eyes remind me of my mom." He said sadly looking down at the floor, but quickly realized that he was falling out of character, then smirked again, "Since I was, repeatedly punched by a girl. How about that kiss?" He asked. I felt heat rush to my face. _You don't love him. You don't love him. _

"Go eat your-" I was about to cuss him out again when we heard a terrifying noise, it was inhuman, and certainly not a walker, but something in between. I locked eyes with Carl before taking off with the others following closely behind. We almost ran right into Daryl who had his back faced towards us. We stopped abruptly. He looked weak, which was really saying something.

"PLease, Carol, don't do this. She's just using you." Daryl pleaded with Carol who was aiming some sort of weapon towards her heart. No one had noticed us...yet.

"C'mon, mom. You know its only for your own good." Lizzie said, "Besides you betrayed me." She said in an ice-cold voice.

"I-I didn't mean to let them get away...I-I..." Carol stammered out. Let who get away? The group?

"Mom, I can't trust you, you know this is the only way you can get back to your real daughter, what was her name? Sophia? You can meet back with her in hell." Lizzie said walking circles around Carol. I couldn't believe what Lizzie was doing. Carl, of course, knew I had a habit of getting in the middle of things so he had his arm held out protectively over me. I dodged his arm and lunged forward toward Lizzie and Carol. They bother jumped back in surprise.

"Don't listen to her Carol! She's wrong! You deserve so much better! You're a much stronger person than this! And Sophia, she would be proud of you if you just, put. Down. The weapon." I instructed her slowly. She looked at me with hope. A look I had truly missed. She set the weapon down.

"_What are you doing?" _Lizzie hissed at me.

"Doing you a favor." I said glaring back. A flash of confusion crossed her before her permanent scowl reached her face again.

"You know, Carmen, do you really think someone like Carl could love you?" She asked. Little did she know that was the last thing I was worried about, but I had a plan.

"Well, its obvious he doesn't." I said putting my hands on my hips. I glanced at Carl, he looked at us with shock.

"Oh, I know sweetie. I could just kill you now. And I'm really fighting the temptation to just end your misery over Carl. But, I like to see people..._suffer._" She said. What the hell? Something didn't look right about her eyes...they were a milky white and..._omigod._

"Y-you're not...you're not..." stuttered and backed away from her slowly. My eyes filled with fear and my plan completely ruined. She cackled.

"That's right, you really think the _old me_ would have the heart to do this? Of course not. I had to take on a new path." She said stepping closer to me.

"C-carl. R-run," I stuttered quietly, she took another step closer, "R-RUN! Carl, go! Don't look back! Just go! THe group isn't out here! T-there at the house! Now GO!" I screamed at him, _begged _him to let me suffer. I didn't want him to see this. I was unarmed. I watched intently as my small group of friends, no _family, _look at each other than back at me. Carl shook his head, I could see the tears forming, he started to walk towards us. I shook my head violently.

I knew I needed him, his warmth, his embrace, but I couldn't allow him any closer than where he was.

"Stay back! Lizzie, you don't know what you're doing! This is wrong. I know you're still in there! You can't let this happen, I don't know how it happened, but you have to trust me!" I screamed. Carl stopped in his tracked before tackling Lizzie to the ground, a knife flew out of Lizzie's hand as they wrestled each other. I screamed at them to stop, She was beating Carl to a pulp, on the verge of killing him. And the reason for this was because...

_She was inhuman._


	11. Let it burn

Lizzie slowly got off of Carl and he scrambled to his feet. Only for her to slowly walk over to me. I wasn't scared, I should have been, but I knew what she was and she was most certainly, not Lizzie.

"Yes, I suppose you know now. What're you going to do? Kill me?" Lizzie asked tauntingly. If I killed her, then her stupid army of people and walkers would kill all of us, but of course I had to say the stupidest of things.

"I might just do that. You're not human, Lizzie." I said backing up a bit.

"Am I not, Carmen? It took you long enough to realize..." She said edging closer.

"I-I..."

"Carmen!" Carl hissed, I looked over Lizzie's shoulder to see Carl pointing at Lizzie's back. Then I understood. I backed myself up to a tree, praying Lizzie hadn't heard him. A plan formed in my head as Lizzie finally stopped where I had.

"You know, you can kill me. It is possible, I believe you know how. Of course, no one knows my little...secret but you and Carol..."

"Lizzie, this isn't you, you know that." I pleaded with her, but her milky white eyes told me I would get no where. How could none of us see it in her the first time she acted crazy? She narrowed her eyes at me. As soon as her eyes met mine, her arm that was conveniently behind her back, swung out with a knife perfectly planted in it. She screamed in rage as her knife connected with rough bark instead of my head. I ran back to where Carl was safely at a distance. Lizzie struggled to get the knife out of the tree, her "eyes" were full of fury once she finally pulled the knife free and turned to look at the seven of us including Carol.

"I-I have to do it..." I muttered as Lizzie started storming back to us.

"What do you mean?" Carl asked hardly keeping the fear from his voice.

"I have to...to kill her..." I stuttered out.

"Didn't we establish that?" He asked sarcastically. _Not in the mood, Carl... _I thought to myself.

"It's not the same though..." I trailed off and walked with heavy breaths back to where Lizzie was.

"Carm, what do you mean?" He asked shakily reaching out to me. I shook my head, and ignored him. I bit my lip. I knew he wouldn't willingly give me his gun, so I would have to use a pointless trick...a trick that I didn't want to use. I didn't want to hurt, but I also didn't want him seeing this as a joke, but These six people had been my only friends that have ever cared about me, enough that they would risk there lives for me. So now that's what I'd have to do for them, even if this made Carl feel hurt, he was tough though.

I spun around quickly realizing that Lizzie was speeding up.

"C-carl. Kiss me." I said nervously glancing behind me.

"What?" He asked as if he hadn't heard me correctly.

"I said, kiss me." I out my hands on my hips, feeling irritated.

"But-"

"For the love of- ugh! Just do it!" I pleaded with him, but he still looked beyond surprise.

"Carmen, what are you-"

I rolled my eyes and forcefully pressed my lips on his, but slowly, the kiss became softer. It didn't get any better than kissing your best friend that you're in love with, but just can't have. As right as this felt I couldn't allow it to continue, as in _ever_. I opened one eye and reached around his waist to try to find the gun holster before we lost time.

He jumped a little as my hands felt around his waist, I have to admit, it was something I would never do, but all part of the trick. My right hand lightly touched a hard metal and immediately found the gun. I yanked it out of its holster, pulled away abruptly from the kiss and spun around again. Before Carl could so much as blink, I aimed it at Lizzie's. I squeezed my eyes shut and squeezed the trigger lightly. The gun shot was deafening and I dropped the gun as if it had burned my hand. I felt myself beginning to black out. I fell on all fours and thought to myself, _why am I blacking out? Because you just killed Lizzie, that's why. _I looked up and locked eyes with Carl, before my eyes rolled to the back of my head, and the world turned black for probably the thousandth time.

_'Think you can get rid of me completely? Well you're wrong.' Lizzie hissed at me. I screamed as I watched her rotted face and loosely hanging limbs. The sight was unsettling._

_'That's right, Hanchittle, you did this to me.' _

_'but I thought...I didn't mean to...I was only trying to protect my family.'_

_'Oh blah, blah. Who cares? You still killed me, and what family, Carmen? You really think any of them love you? Indie, Chloë, Kai, Hunter, **Carl, MY SISTER!?**' _

_'You left her! When she finds out that you died a long time ago she's going to feel guilty!' I yelled back. _

_'Good. Oh and speaking of family,' She said raising a knife up, 'Your mom is conveniently-' I cut her off scared of the next words she was about to say. I screamed as she raised the knife to my head- _

My brain slowly relieved of panic as the scene started to disappear before she could jab the knife into my head.

As black came into view again, I was starting to feel. It was just a nightmare, just a nightmare. My eyes flashed open.

"Carmen, hey. Its okay. You don't have to scream any more. Seriously, Carm, quit it!" Indie's voice snapped. I sat up abruptly taking in my surroundings. I was lying on the living room couch in the mansion. Indie and Chloë were sitting on the floor next to me.

"W-what happened?" I asked.

"You tell me." Indie said shrugging.

"Carmen, care to explain why you were acting weird earlier? Before you killed Lizzie?" Chloë asked. I was taken aback by this and I could feel a lump form in my throat.

"I-I didn't kill Lizzie. Well not exactly Lizzie. Look guys, this is something dangerous, and I would need to tell the council." I said shoving the blankets off of me and walking out the door.

"Wait, Carmen! Don't go out there!" Chloë called after me, I ignored her, this needed to be said. I couldn't let the group just think I'd killed Lizzie, even after the hell "she" put us through. I walked out into the hallway, and with all my luck bumped right into Carl.

"Sorry!" I apologized quickly. Carl chuckled a little.

"Its fine...can we talk? About what happened I mean?" He asked.

"Uh-"

"Please, we have to know what you know about Lizzie." He said, oh that's what he meant, if it was about the kiss I couldn't answer that.

"Right. Y-yes, okay. Lizzie...from what I could see, was a walker. But she was also human. See? complicated." I said quickly, wanting to get by him.

"You mean..."

"I _mean_, just like you said, the brain cells in walker's are eat and kill, right? Well...somewhere in Lizzie's brain a small figment of memory and sanity lasted in her when she was bit, but she still had the desire of a walker. To kill. She doesn't have the same soul. Not the Lizzie we know. All she knows is eat,kill, and the group. So she was pretty much suffering in herself." I said at the verge of tears, she hadn't deserved this torture. Carl took about 2 minutes to finally start talking.

"D-do you think that Lizzie might have been somewhere in her...um walker form?" he asked finally.

"Maybe, but I think she was dead the minute she went crazy. Or a bit above half dead. Make sense? She was mostly walker, but a quarter human because of her memories."

"I guess. But...how do you know she was a walker and not just some mental serial killer?" He asked. I took a deep breath as memories of her eyes flashed in my head.

"She had a rotting bite mark on her arm and her eyes...they weren't normal, but a pasty white."

"Don't you think we would have noticed that?"

"You had to be real close to her." I responded, trying to make this as simple as possible.

That about confirmed it, but her eyes were haunting and Carol...I gasped.

"Whats wrong?" Carl asked looking at me quizzically.

"Carol! We forgot Carol!"

"Maybe she was the one who was really behind this, if what you say about Lizzie is true"

"No, not at all. Carol obviously did it out of fear. I'm guessing she saw Lizzie get bit, and she just couldn't bring herself to admit Lizzie was gone. She was so scared she probably just thought that doing whatever "Lizzie" said would keep her from getting hurt." I said quoting Lizzie with my fingers.

"I guess that makes sense. We should tell the others." Carl said walking down the hall with me.

"I guess we have to." I mumbled as we walked into the living room. Indie was anxiously pacing the room, Kai, Chloë, Mika, and Hunter were patiently sitting on the couch. Kai immediately shot up when he saw us enter the room.

"Carmen, Carl. What happened?" Kai asked running a hand through his blond hair, his blue eyes showing stress.

"I'll explain everything." Carl said sensing that I wasn't in the mood for talking. Everyone sat down again and listened intently. Once Carl finished speaking what I said word-for-word, Indie objected.

"Hows that even possible? I mean come on guys, isn't that a little crazy?" She said unconvincingly.

"No." Kai snapped back, I could tell he was the one had been stressing out the most, he knew better than to snap at Indie, we would have to keep an eye out for her knives.

"And anyways Indie, isn't anything possible now a days?" Chloë said.

"No, Indie's right. Too far-fetched." Hunter jumped in, then Mika.

"I think its possible, I would rather remember my sister die as a good person, then her be a serial killer. Everything she did...that wasn't her. It makes sense." Mika said knitted her brows in thought.

"Guys, lets just tell the council, now that we're safe."

"Carl, you're such an idiot! The "council" is still missing!" Indie face palmed at Carl's comment, and pretty soon the six of them were jumping up and down in rage, yelling at each other and arguing. I couldn't take it. It was just so...so _overwhelming._

I stood up quickly trying to stop Carl and Indie from yelling any further, along with the rest of them but it was no use. I could feel the panic rising in me once Chloë and Kai were "twin wrestling", it was pointless. I was practically pulling my hair out in panic, no one was listening.

"That's it." I hissed to myself and walked over to all of them.

"So what!? Are you accusing Carmen for lying now!?" Carl yelled at Indie.

"I never said that! I'm just saying that, she mental illness could have caused this! She doesn't even know how to control it and much less control herself, Carl! You're just agreeing with her because your freakishly _in love _with her!" Indie shot back. _Why did they have to bring me into this? I couldn't believe Indie thought I couldn't take care of myself! I was the one who was trying to keep everyone together, I tried numerous times to keep all of them alive!_ Carl was about to respond, before they both noticed I was standing right beside them. Indie's face dropped in shock and her knives that she had collectively gripped in anger were now clattering to the ground.

"ALL OF YOU STOP IT!" I yelled and they all turned to me with sympathetic looks, "_I know what I saw._" I hissed at them, "And I don't care what any of your opinions are. But we are the only survivors at this point, our groups missing, and all we're doing is having a freaking_ tantrum. _So quit it." I paused for moment, letting it sink into their little brains.

"I'm going to look for the others, whether you choose to stay and act like kids or not. I'm not here to babysit you." I said angrily and raised my eyebrows expectantly as they all looked at me with shocked looks.

"S-sorry..." Indie said quietly remembering what she had said.

"Just forget it. We should go." I said glaring at the floor. They all nodded and followed me out the door.

The mansion was empty and smelled strongly of blood, rotting food, and...walker guts. It was disgusting and I couldn't help but feel nervous, who knows what happened to everyone else.

"You're not dead." A small voice said from behind us, I couldn't tell whether she was glad or disappointed, but it was none other than Carol Peletier.

"What do want, Carol." Carl demanded taking the lead.

"I-I didn't mean to. I swear, I wasn't trying to hurt anybody, I was just scared..." Carol said immediately breaking down into sobs. I walked over to her and gently put my hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry about Lizzie, but we need your help. Do you have any idea on where everyone else is?" I asked. Her face immediately brightened.

"Oh, yes! They're down in the basement."

"Are they...um, locked in there?" Kai asked uncertainly. Carol nodded and her face dropped back into a frown.

"Thank you, Carol...I hope for the best." I said smiling at her before running down the hall, down the stairs, and to the locked basement door. Lizzie had made this way too easy for us. The key was just in front of the basement door. Carl grabbed the key and jabbed it into the lock.

The door practically swung open, and there they were. Rick, Maggie, Glenn, Tyreese, Sasha, Michonne, Beth, Elena, the twins and Hunter's mom, and Daryl. The council. We smiled at them and we all ran in. Carl ran to his dad, as did the twins and Hunter, and I ran to Elena. As for Indie and Mika they awkwardly shifted around the room making small conversation with everybody. I sighed in relief, we were together again.

"Carmen! We're so sorry, we completely put our guard down and...Well, we were so caught up in killing off those-" Elena started to say.

"Where's my mom?" I cut her off and started looking around the room.

"Oh, Carmen, sweetie..."

"No...no. She's okay. She's fine. Lets go look for her, okay?" I asked calmly ignoring her worried gaze.

"No, sweetie, I mean your mom actually didn't survive this time...we-we saw her die. I'm so sorry."

"Must have been the wrong person." I said continuing to look around. Elena shook the tears away.

"Carmen..."

"Maybe she's in the forest..."

"Carmen."

"Or maybe she went to the bathroom! Yeah, that's seems right."

"Carmen! Look, I know its hard to believe. But...she risked her life for all of us. The group of walkers, they came in and your mom took action immediately. We didn't kill them all off, they're still roaming in the mansion somewhere, but Lizzie locked us here. We tried to save her, I promise, but..." Elena stopped and let a tear fall. I stared at my aunt, a completely blank look on my face.

Suddenly the entire basement went silent as Elena continued, "Your mom. She asked me to give this to you, she found it when she was trying to figure out what you're illness was and the cure for it." Elena said, now sobbing, she held her palm out. I looked down at it and in it was a folded piece of paper and a box of 'Lucky Duck' matches. I grabbed the box of matches and the note, I could feel everyone's worried eyes burn a hole into my back. Were they expecting me to break down into my "mental illness" and cry myself to death? Had they not seen how tough and hardheaded any of us had gotten? We weren't kids anymore, not even Mika and Hunter.

"Carmen, if you need anything-" Rick started to speak. But I cut him off with a tired look and shook my head. I opened the note and read my mother's sloppy and rushed handwriting.

_'You know what to do, love.' _It said. I sighed, everyone was still staring at me, but I wasn't going to put on a crying fest for them. In fact, I wasn't going to cry at all. I was dry. Dry of tears, of love, and even dry of sarcasm (there's a surprise).

I crumpled the paper carelessly and stuffed it into my back pocket. Then I grabbed the box of matches, lit a match and walked out of the basement, up the stairs and into the cafeteria that was now filled with walkers. The job my mother had started, but that I had to finish. I looked at the burning fire in my hands and could feel the heat radiate lightly against my cheek.

I wiped my forehead to get rid of the small beads of sweat building up and threw the match to the ground of the cafeteria angrily and then I quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher to keep the cafeteria from burning.

The walkers were aimlessly walking around, on fire, as if it barely affected them. But no, I wanted the walkers to suffer like Lizzie did, like mom did, like dad did. I wanted them dead. Once all the walkers had burned to ash, and I had finished freeing the cafeteria of fire. I carelessly dropped the fire extinguisher to the floor with a loud clatter.

I walked out of the cafeteria, down the hall I could already hear rushed voices and footsteps, and for that I ran.

I stormed into my room, slammed the door, and locked it. The sun was quickly disappearing into night, and my windows were wide open. I sunk to the floor and leaned against my door with my head in my knees. A memory flashed in my head, back when I was fourteen years old.

_I decided to stay in my room for about an hour or so. I fell asleep sitting on the floor of my bedroom and leaned against the door with my gun in hand._

_"Wake up! WAKE UP!" I heard the younger voice scream. I abruptly snapped awake and unhooked the safety button on the gun. I slowly opened the door and walked out with the gun raised up. Sun was barely leaking through the house. I opened the door to the living room. I heard the boy gasp as he looked up from shaking and screaming at a man "sleeping" on the couch. Surprisingly, he raised his gun at me at the same time I raised mine to him._

_"W-who are you?" I stuttered out trying to stay strong and push the fear out._

_"You first." He said in a firm voice despite the stained tears on his freckled cheeks._

_"Your on my property. You first." I said just as firmly. He swallowed._

_"Carl." He replied not lowering his gun even an inch. I was surprised he hadn't pulled the trigger..._

I pushed the memory to the back of my mind but couldn't help and smile at when I had first met Carl, we almost killed each other, yet we were both so innocent... I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the crumpled up note and unfolded it once more. I looked at it, then noticed that there was actually sloppy writing from my mom.

_'Save the one you love, do what I couldn't. Save him, because he needs you. Be brave, and as for your illness...go to Maggie. Save him, baby girl.' _I read it and a small rim of tears were ready to fall, but I couldn't allow them to fall. _Him._ She couldn't possibly mean Carl, right? Was she _telling _me to save him? From what? It didn't take long for my mind to process, she just confirmed my feelings for him.

She just confirmed my purpose on earth, I was here to protect the ones I loved, then why couldn't I save my mother? Because, she hadn't wanted me to. She wanted me to save Indie, the twins, Hunter, Mika, _them. Him, not her._She didn't give up her life for the council, she gave it up for me and for my family, my other family. She wanted _me_ to save them all.


	12. Dusty books and New discoveries

**Alright, so I'm going to try something completely new! This chapter is going to be in no one's POV. If you hate it, let me know, if you think I should** **continue**,** let me know, if you think Carmen's POV is better, let me know. I wanted to thank all of my followers! Please R and R! Also this just a small chapter on what Carmen's illness is, but if you like it in no one's POV I'll continue the rest of the story that way.**

No one's POV

_7:30 p.m._

_January 15th_

_5 minutes before end of last chapter_

* * *

Maggie stared in shock as Carmen stormed out of the room with a burning match in her hand.

"Should we follow her?" Mika asked looking around worriedly. Maggie shook her head.

"Give her some time." She said in her heavy Southern accent.

"If she burns the house down," Tyreese said with a flash of sadness in his eyes, as he remembered how Karen died. Maggie shook her head again.

"She wouldn't. Carl, I need to show ya somethin'. Before things get outta hand." She said giving Carl a pointed look. His eyes widened knowingly, then nodded. He followed Maggie out the door and left towards the library, leaving the rest of the group suspicious, even Glenn had no idea what they were up to.

"Mags, this about her illness isn't it?" Carl asked once they were far away enough. She nodded and sighed heavily.

"I'm afraid her mother's death won't help with the situation. Both her parents are dead and Lizzie's still out there." Maggie said quickening her pace. Carl gulped and stopped in the hallway.

"Actually..." Carl started biting his bottom lip. Maggie stopped as well and gaped at him.

"She didn't..."

"She had to, Maggie. Lizzie would've killed us." Carl said. Maggie nodded in agreement.

"Its not the fact that she killed someone, its the fact that it could mess with her brain easily. Disrupting some more of her illness. Its gonna scar her, Carl." Maggie sighed in frustration.

"I won't let anything happen to her." He said giving her a reassuring smile.

"I no you won't, Carl. But...we have to get down to the library. I need to tell what this really is." Maggie said started to walk again. Carl didn't know what Carmen's illness was or the cure for it, but from what he could tell, it was deadly.

The two speed walked silently towards the libraries double doors. She didn't hesitate before pushing the doors open and gazed at the aisles and aisles of books.

"This might be a while." Maggie muttered.

"I'll help. What's the book called?" Carl asked.

"Don't know...just thought there might be something in here to help me explain this to you. Could be anything and anywhere." Maggie said running a finger across the titles of dusty medical books.

"Great." Carl mumble under his breath. He walked down the aisle next to her and looked for a book that may have some sort of clue to what Carmen had. After only two minutes, he became bored and gave up. He sat himself on the floor and leaned against a book shelf that was propped up against a brown colored wall.

He looked up at the windows, on the ceiling, the windows were curved in a crystal-like fashion so that when the sun hit them a small rainbow would appear on the walls, giving them color. If Judith was ever allowed out of her room, she would have loved this. He smiled at the small details and thought _whoever lived here before was seriously rich...and old. _The entire house was filled with a sort of dusty smell.

"Aha!," Maggie said happily as she pulled out a large book, coated with a sheet of dust. She started coughing as the dust reached up to her nose. Carl got up as she set the book down on a table and opened it after recovering.

Maggie traced the table of contents with her finger until it stopped right below a word that spelled 'schizophrenia'. She sighed.

"There it is," She said and opened to page 175.

"What's schizophrenia?" Carl asked raising an eyebrow.

"Read." Maggie instructed him.

" Schizprenia is a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation." Carl read out slowly but once he processed it, he realized it sounded exactly like what Carmen had.

"So, what its saying is, that whenever Carmen goes into panic, her brain can't exactly tell reality from fantasy, which explains why she imagines and sees all of as walkers instead of people..." Carl said slowly. Maggie closed her eyes and nodded for a brief second.

"If it gets bad enough, she'll want to commit suicide. But that's not all, Carl." Maggie said giving him a look that told him she wanted him she didn't want to spell it out, but instead he gave her a questioning look.

"You seem to be the only one who can bring her back into reality and make her realize its not real. She feels...protected, but she can't get away from you either." Maggie said, still not providing an answer, he gave her another questioning look and she sighed in irritation.

"Which means, she has two illnesses formed into one. She has separation anxiety. In other words, she's sort of attached to you. Not in a creepy way, but she feels more protected and the truth is the only cure I'm seeing to it is, you." Maggie said crossing her arms.

Carl couldn't help but blush and be slightly happy about this.

No matter how many times Carmen had rejected him, she didn't really have a choice but to be stuck with him. Whether she liked him more than a friend or not.

"So she has minor schizophrenia and minor separation anxiety causing major 'love sick for me'." He said bursting out laughing, he couldn't help it, he knew this could be really dangerous for Carmen, and he really cared for her, as in he would give his life for her, but when things got too tense, he had to throw a joke in. Maggie huffed disapprovingly and slapped his arm playfully.

"Carl! This is serious! Are you really going to be committed to not leaving her side? _Ever?"_ She asked. Then again, there was times when he was dead serious. He grew sincere and his laugh faded into determination.

"When have I not left her side?" He asked. Maggie smiled at him, knowing that he was just as love sick for her as she was she was for him.

"You haven't. You know, this doesn't mean you have to get married, Mr. Sincere." Maggie said sarcastically.

"You married Glenn. Its no different."

"Its different! You're only eighteen." Maggie shot back.

"Nineteen in two days. And Carmen will be in 8 days." He said grinning as if he'd won a trophy.

"Whatever. You're not allowed to get married until you're 30. As for dating, 21." She said before ruffling his hair.

"21!? That's 2 years away, Mags! And she'll be tired of me by then." Carl whined.

"Oh as if she wasn't tired of you _now._ And anyways I can't think of a time when she's actually agreed to your infamous question '_since I almost died, do I get a kiss?' 'since _you_ almost died do I get a kiss?'" _Maggie laughed at his glare and continued her impressions of him.

"I should check on her." Carl said, remembering that she had just lost her mom and excused himself from more embarrassment.

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**Sorry guys! That was my shortest chapter! Anyways it was just a little explanation of what illness/illnesses Carmen has, and a little test to see how you guys like having no one's POV. Hope you liked it R and R please! I really want to reach 25 reviews! Please help make that happen and thanks for reading! ( btw as you can tell, I learned how to use a line! Whoo hoo!) Oh yeah and all creds to Google for the definition of 'schizophrenia'.**


	13. No stars

**Alright so I'm doing this chapter in no one's POV and the next chapter will be in Carmen's POV and so on! Thank you! And please R and R!**

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Kai watched as Carl and Maggie ran out of the basement, gaping just as confused as everyone else.

"Well that wasn't weird." A sarcastic voice said behind him in a low whisper. He grinned.

"Not as weird as you apologizing to Carmen earlier." He said turning around to a moody Indie throwing knives effortlessly at the wall.

"It was necessary then." She said shrugging it off, but he knew better, she felt guilty.

"That's funny coming from you." He murmured more to himself than to her.

"Shut up, Kai." Indie responded, collecting her knives again and placing them in various places such as her boots, her pockets, and her belt. He just now realized why most of the group feared her. Ever since they kicked her family out and left them to die, she hadn't forgiven anyone except for Kai and his sister, and of course Carmen wasn't to blame for this, same as Hunter and Mika. But this was why she was mistaken for an anti social girl when really, she was just angry at the world. She had everyone she loved ripped from her. Well, almost everyone.

Before Carmen arrived back with the group, Kai and his sister would visit Indie in her home: the library. Those nights would usually go something like, they would talk, inform her of current council activities, laugh, then Kai would say something stupid and have a knife thrown at his head. Luckily he hadn't died yet.

Indie grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the basement, the entire group stared after them in equal shock. No one knew what to think of all this, were they supposed to be happy that they were free from Lizzie or sad that Lucianna, Carmen's mom, didn't survive.

She led him out an unfamiliar back door and soon they were standing in pitch black.

"Where are we?" Kai asked.

"Outside." She answered simply and hoisted herself on top of an unseen trash can and onto her signature spot, the roof. He followed her and climbed into the small ledge. There was barely any room for two people to fit on here, so they both lied on the their backs and looked at the starless sky.

"Kai...can I ask you something?" Indie asked. Kai couldn't help but feel a pang of shock surge through him, her voice never sounded so innocent before.

"Go ahead." He answered.

"Why aren't you scared of me?" She asked. Kai raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Why would I be?" He asked curiously trying to figure out what she was trying to get at.

"Everyone else is."

"That's cause they don't know you and they know not to mess with you." He answered simply.

"And you don't?"

"Well...actually I don't." He grinned and remembered the numerous times she had slapped him for all the 'rude' remarks he had said.

"Yeah you really don't have an off button, but why aren't you scared of me? Or hate me?" She asked again.

"There's no reason to. Your different. Not like other girls. Not like my sister or Mika." He said.

"What about Carmen?"

"Well, your more daring and she's more..um...curious." He said picking his words carefully. Anything coming out of his mouth, would go straight from Indie to Carmen, knowing how close the two of them had grown. Then again, all seven of them had taken turns saving each other's lives.

"Curious, as in she gets herself into too many life or death situations?" Indie asked, knowingly.

"Exactly! Even though we've all been through something terrible, you've watched this group kill your own family, yet you're still tough." He said. She snorted,

"_They _didn't kill my family. Lizzie did, remember? And I didn't ask why you like me...I asked you why you aren't scared of me. I could put a knife through your head and wouldn't shed a tear." She said confidently and crossed her arms. Threats were her in her favor, but they never seemed to affect Kai.

"See!? That right there, was the sarcasm that your so pro at." He said chuckling lightly.

"What sarcasm? I wasn't kidding." She said, glaring at him. That's when he grew slightly nervous, yet he knew her too well to fall for it.

"I think you would care if you killed me. A lot actually."

"Now, why would you say that?" She asked with a challenging look.

"Because. I'm the only one who isn't scared of you." He responded.

"Don't use my own words against me!" She yelled and then shoved him. She burst out laughing, while he tried to balance himself.

"And this, Indie, is why love you." He said dismissively.

"Wait...love?" She asked, her eyes going from happy to just plain confused.

"Yeah...l-," He paused, "Oh right sorry." He said quickly.

"Its fine...its just been a long time since someone has told me that..." She said quietly leaning back against the roof.

"When was the last?" He asked, his curiosity taking over.

"The night before _she_ killed my mom. My mom promised...everything would be okay," Indie responded in a voice so tiny, he had to strain his ears to hear her, "But she lied to me." She said, her voice growing dark.

"I'm sorry Indie. I shouldn't have said that." _He had to overthink the fact that he was he apologizing for saying that he loved her..._

"No. I like hearing it from you better, and anyways, you keep your promises." She responded. He looked over at her and could see a small trace of a tear falling down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly and only when she smiled at him, did he realize what he felt for her. He felt like she was the most beautiful thing to have come into his life. She looked over at him, realizing that he was staring at her.

"What?" She asked, with concern wavering in her voice. He smiled then leaned forward, her eyes widened in response, she didn't know how this would end, but she wasn't sure she wanted it to. If it had been anyone else other than Kai, she would've slapped him. Right before their lips could connect however, the slam of a door erupted below them, and they quickly jumped apart.

"Indie! You up there?" Mika called up to them.

"Yeah, I'm here!" She yelled back.

"Is Kai with you?" Mika asked, with a hint of tease in her voice.

"Yup." Indie responded.

Kai could have sworn he heard Mika snicker, and for that he decided he would torment her and his younger brother later.

"Right, well, we need your help! Still have to clear the place of blood and crap before we let the kids out!" She yelled back. Indie gasped.

"That's right! I almost forgot the kids...none were hurt right? During the walker outbreak?" Indie asked Mika as she jumped down from the roof and onto the trash bin, with Kai following close behind.

"No, Rick got them into the living room and locked them in there. Just in case they couldn't handle it." Mika responded shrugging before walking inside.

"That makes sense, I guess..." Kai said. Indie nodded and followed Mika inside.

The kids' parents were either dead or walkers by now, the entire group that wasn't part of the council and who were all against the seven of them being alive, were either dead or walkers, leaving their poor kids on there own with the rest of the group. The groups population had been decreased to only the council, the seven teens, and the poor children left behind. They weren't at fault for Lizzie's brain washed army, consisting of their parents and walkers. The group lost a lot of people to Lizzie and Carol, but the question was, what were they going to do with Carol?

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**Alright, sorry, I guess I lied! I think I'm going to make the next few chapters in third person, just so that we can, for once, get more than Carmen's side. So just for the next few chapters, I promise! Unless you like it just third person, let me know. Anyways, please R and R! Reviews is pretty much my motivation to continue this story! So please review! Thanks for reading! And if you have any questions feel free to PM me.**


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